Megaman Reborn
by The Asylum of the Devitory
Summary: Humanity is on the verge of extinction at the hands of a new Reploid race. Their only chance at survival is to fight back with one of their own: a man who has been dead for years. Left with only scattered memories of his previous life, this new Megaman struggles to destroy his formidable enemies, and fighting a war that rages within...
1. Awakening

Memories raced through his head, fast and feverishly like a raging hurricane, seeing his own life flash before his eyes. Almost as suddenly as it began, it had stopped, and he was left with blackness. Sounds, he could hear sounds now. Voices, his ears could hear with eerily abnormal crispness. He could hear his own heartbeat as well, hear his own blood pumping through his veins, hear his very mind ticking. Touch, he felt like he was lying down on his stomach, and through it he felt every vibration on the surface upon which he lay, he even felt the chattering voices bounce against his bones. Smell, he could smell traces of sweat, blood, metal, ashes, and scraped skin. He willed his eyes to open, and with razor-sharp clearness, he saw the world around him.  
  
"He's waking up," he heard a voice say. He jolted over onto his back, looking up at two figures peering down at him, their faces marred by a blindingly bright light hovering over him. He shielded his eyes from the stunning brightness as he heard one say, "Easy there. We just stitched your spine shut again a week ago."  
  
His eyes quickly adjusted to the light above him, and the faces quickly took form. They looked nothing like any face he could remember, because when he tried to match them, he could remember nothing.  
  
Machines, he could hear machines whirring and beeping close by. Turning his head slowly to his left, he saw various machines of all different shapes and sizes lined around the walls of the small, dark room he and the strangers were in. He tried his memory to recall this setting, but again his brain dealt him blanks. Trying to remember anything else on everything else, he could find nothing more than nothing at all. Looking up at the faces again, he murmured, "Who are you?"  
  
As he felt his words reverbarate in his throat, one looked up at the other and said, "They're getting smarter. They're making sure to sever nerves in the neck and deal heavy cranial trauma, destroying most if not all of the brain's memory patterns."  
  
"Indeed," replied the second. "We were lucky to find you when we did," the other said, looking at him again. "We've been looking for other bodies for years, and you're the only one to have a fraction of a chance of surviving the operation."  
  
He groaned wearily. His ears rang with their voices, and so did it echo inside his body. "What are you?" He moaned. "Where am I?"  
  
"You're in our operating room, whoever you are," said the larger figure. "Auto and I are humans, just as you are." Then, looking at the other figure, he said, "At least, you were human."  
  
"Human," he moaned. "I'm a human?" he asked, hardly understanding the word.  
  
"Human," said the second, "And a very lucky one at that too."  
  
His eyes suddenly popped into focus, and he could now see the two faces clearly. The bony, dark-skinned, red-haired face on his left looked at him with dark sunglasses, while the one on his right looked at him with a long-drawn jaw, a red and white bandanna, and a pair of large glasses decorated the rest his face. "Who are you people?" he asked wearily.  
  
"This is Auto," said the one with the sunglasses, motioning at the one with the bandanna, "he's the one who performed the operation, and the one who gave you another chance. My name is Blues, and I am the one who found you."  
  
"Found me?" he murmured, "Operation? What's going on?"  
  
Auto and Blues looked grimly at each other. "You don't remember a thing, do you?" Auto asked him. He weakly shook his head. "Care to enlighten him, or shall I?" Auto asked.  
  
"You, whoever you are, are a human," Blues said, "Or at least what's left of you is. We found you sixteen miles from here four years ago, another victim of a Virtuloid attack."  
  
Virtuloid. Something within his mind suddenly jarred.  
  
"They had broken your back, neck, and almost every other bone in your body. Whatever bones you still had were in pieces, in whatever limbs you still had on you."  
  
"Am I dead?" he suddenly gasped, sitting up quickly. He found that he was sitting on a table, and his head nearly hit the bright lamp that hung from the ceiling overhead.  
  
"Yes, you are," Blues said, "But your brain is very much alive, thanks to Auto."  
  
He looked at Auto, who grinned and said, "You have no idea what trouble I went through trying to keep your brain alive."  
  
His eyes suddenly darted to his body, and found it to be coated in a deep blue metal. His hands, a soft and silky-feeling white, were like large gloves, almost as large as his forearm. He wiggled his feet, finding nor feeling not toes, but two bulky blocks, shaped into oversized blue boots. "What am I?" He asked, shivering with fright, "What have you done to me?"  
  
"We've brought you back, whatever your name is," said Blues. "Whatever we couldn't find of your scattered body we made, based on some blueprints of the 20XX roboticist, doctor Thomas Light."  
  
Light. Another sudden jolt rocked his mind.  
  
"Light," he murmured. "That was him who made machines, human-like machines- robots."  
  
"Yes," said Blues, "And he also made the original fighting robot, Megaman."  
  
Megaman. Another jolt.  
  
"Megaman, and the later X model," said Auto. "I replicated your body based on the data I found on both Megamen," he said. "Both of them were made to be peaceful, helpful robots, but were both, ironically, remodified into battle robots to protect humans." Auto looked at him straight in his deep green eyes. "Odd, though, you're a human like us, and now you, remodelled after the Megamen, can protect the rest of us humans."  
  
"Megaman," he muttered. "You've made me the new Megaman?"  
  
Blues nodded. "And we did because we need you to protect us from the Virtuloids."  
  
At the mention of Virtuloids again, his memory jarred again.  
  
"You made a Megaman with my body?" he murmured. "Just to protect you?"  
  
"That's what both Megamen were created for," Blues said, "Protecting humans and robots alike from themselves. And now, us humans need another Megaman, and you are him."  
  
The peices of the tale and his new, however few, memories were far from his ability to stick together into a complete story. So much was missing, and he wanted to find out what. "What's going on?" he asked, "Why do you need me to protect you?"  
  
Blues looked grimly at Auto, who returned his grimace. "It's horrible down here, Megaman," he said, "and the Virtuloids are closing in on us quickly. We're running out of resources, and soon, we will all die. That's why we made you into a new Megaman, whoever you are."  
  
"Don't I have a name?" he asked. "I can't remember mine..."  
  
"Of course you can't," said Auto quickly, "Your corpse's brain had its entire memory wiped clean."  
  
He looked at his new body intently. "Did the Megamen have names?" he asked.  
  
"One of them did," said Blues, "His name was Rock."  
  
"Then that's who I'll be," he said, "My name is Rock." 


	2. Underground

Rock looked into the mirror, and saw his face for the first time. Pale, pinkish-yellow skin held firm below a tangled mess of shoulder-length, fluffy, jet-black hair. He never noticed that he had green eyes until Blues, looking over his shoulder, pointed it out to him. "Is this what I looked like?" he asked.  
  
"No, we had to reconstruct your face," Blues said, pushing his dark glasses further up his nose. "Those Virtuloids left your former self in quite a mess after they were through with you."  
  
Rock's fingertips ran down his cheek, feeling the soft yet sturdy bend of something other than bone underneath. "Blues, I'm still a little lost," he said, still locking eyes with his reflection. "Can you explain what happened again?"  
  
Just then, a high voice asked, "Hey Blues, done with him yet?"  
  
Rock and Blues turned behind them to see a slender blonde woman leaning in the doorway. "Not yet, Roll," Blues said, "Rock's still sorting out an identity crisis."  
  
"Well, I've got to hand it to Auto," Roll said, "He really did make an impressive-looking robot out of that body."  
  
Blues saw Rock gazing dumbfoundedly at Roll. "Rock, let me introduce you to our scouter, Roll," said Blues, beckoning Roll to enter the room.  
  
Roll was almost at tall as Rock, and Roll smiled welcomingly at Rock when she joined them. "So you're the new Megaman," Roll said, extending her hand to Rock, "Nice to meet you."  
  
Rock hesitated a bit before he shook Roll's hand. Almost as soon as they touched, something flew past Rock's mind. A fragment of scrambled memory of his past life again flashed before him, this time showing a split-second glimpse of a woman, almost like Roll, with much longer blonde hair.  
  
Roll unsteadily took her hand back when she saw Rock gazing emptily at her. "Something wrong?" She asked.  
  
Rock blinked for two seconds before rubbing his eyes. "Nothing," he muttered, "Just some memories."  
  
"Memories?" Roll asked.  
  
"He's suffering from amnesia," Blues explained bluntly. "Most of the memory patterns in his brain were destroyed when he was killed. Apparently, a few of them are still there."  
  
It was then that Rock noticed that all the rooms that he had been to were devoid of any lighting. "Why is it always so dark in here?" Rock asked, "Where are we anyways?"  
  
Blues looked at Roll grimly, who returned his glance with a frown of her own. "Rock," said Blues, "I think I should start at the beginning."  
  
******  
  
Rock and Blues sat at the only table in the dark room, lit only by a light bulb hanging from the ceiling on a string. Rock sipped quietly on a hot mug of tea while Blues told him their story. "...And then someone thought it would be hilarious if he hacked into Masterframe and turned all of the Virtuloids against us humans," Blues muttered.  
  
"Why would someone do that?" Rock asked.  
  
"I don't know," Blues muttered, "But if he wanted to turn the Virtuloids against us, he did it the right way. Masterframe controls every Virtuloid's free-thought modules, and bypassing Masterframe would turn the Virtuloids into Reploids... and Mavericks."  
  
"Now you're confusing me," Rock murmured. "What's the difference between a Virtuloid and a Reploid?"  
  
"Reploids were robots based on Megaman X, capable of free thought and free will. They could break the three laws if they wanted, but they seldom did."  
  
"Three laws?"  
  
"One, a robot must never harm a human. Two, a robot must do what a human tells it to do, unless it interferes with the first law. Third, a robot must preserve itself, unless it conflicts with the first or second law."  
  
"So if the Reploids were free-thinking like Virtuloids, what's the difference?"  
  
"Virtuloids are Reploids," said Blues, "But whereas Reploids were free-thinking, Virtuloids are controlled by Masterframe."  
  
"What is Masterframe?" Rock asked.  
  
"Masterframe," Blues hummed to himself. "I'm not even completely sure what it is either. It was a computer developed by us humans to keep Reploids from going Maverick after the Maverick Wars. Neo Arcadia tried to destroy the Reploids instead of implementing Masterframe, but that backfired. So both sides agreed that Masterframe was the only solution to prevent Maverickism."  
  
Rock took another long sip of his tea before he spoke again. "So let me get this straight," he said. "Reploids were put under control by Masterframe, turned into Virtuloids and then Masterframe broke down and turned every Virtuloid against humans."  
  
"Exactly," said Blues. "They rule the surface now, and the rest of us humans have been hiding underground ever since. We knew the only way to fight back was to create another Megaman, but if we made him a Reploid, it would only be a matter of time before he went Virtuloid. That's why we searched the ruins of the surface regularily, looking for dead humans to try and partially convert into robots, because not only would they not give off biological life signs, they would be immune to Masterframe's control and able to fit in perfectly with other Virtuloids. We need someone to break through their defenses and destroy Masterframe, and without Masterframe, the Virtuloids will revert back to Reploids. Maybe then we can build a new Masterframe, one that won't be so easily hacked."  
  
"Turning Virtuloids against humans," Rock muttered, "Why would anyone do such a thing?" he asked, apalled.  
  
"That's not our concern right now, Rock," Blues said firmly. "Right now, our concern is getting enough power to our main generator. It's been offline for too long now, and we can't last much longer without it."  
  
Rock finished the last of his tea. "So if I'm going to go and get fuel for your generator and destroy Masterframe, when do I leave?"  
  
It took Blues only a split second to reply, "Now." 


	3. Factory

Before he knew it, he was standing in the midst of a large field, before the gates of a large, ominous building. "Rock, can you hear me?" Roll's voice asked.  
  
"I'm hearing you loud and clear," Rock replied, tapping on the side of his blue helmet.  
  
"How did you like the teleportation machine Auto made?" Roll asked.  
  
"Didn't feel a thing," Rock responded.  
  
"Good. Now back to subject," Roll said quickly. "Rock, the fuel capsules that our power generator needs to fuction are produced by this factory in front of you," she said. "There's a ton Virtuloid drones inside, and they've been programmed to destroy anyone that is unauthorized to be there, and that would include you."  
  
"Any idea where these capsules are located?" Rock asked.  
  
"Sorry, our radar can't penetrate that far into their buildings, so you'll have to find them yourself. Move quickly, Rock. As soon as the drones spot you, they'll call real Virtuloids to hunt you down. There's no Virtuloids for miles around, so you'll have about thirty minutes to get in, grab the capsules, get out and lie low for awhile."  
  
"Can't you just teleport me back to the hideout after I've got the capsules?" Rock asked.  
  
"Blues should've told you," Roll muttered, "That teleport machine takes up a lot of energy, and you know our generator doesn't have much of it to spare. It'll take an hour to save up enough energy to keep our systems running and bring you back at the same time again, so you're on your own until then."  
  
"Damn, this isn't going to be easy," Rock muttered.  
  
"Compared to the other missions we need you to complete for us, this one's a walk in the park," Roll said. "But don't worry, when Auto rebuilt you, he made you as exact as he could to Megaman and Megaman X. Just run in and fire at everything, get the capsules and gun your way out again."  
  
Rock tensed his right arm, and his large white hand slid into his giant forearm, quickly replaced with the barrel of an energy cannon. "The things I do for humanity," Rock muttered to himself, readying his cannon as he crouched low to the ground like a biding leapord.  
  
"One more thing," Roll added, "Good luck."  
  
"I'll need it," Rock thought to himself, bracing his knees. And with a burst of speed, Rock dashed towards the gates, leapt onto the rails and catapulted himself over. Dashing madly towards the doors of the factory, Rock held his cannon arm in front of him, and began to focus all the energy his cannon could hold. And just as he felt his arm begin to tingle, Rock unleashed it all in one massive blast, destroying anything in its path with a ear-piercing roar.  
  
The instant he blasted his way into the machine-packed factory, Rock heard hundreds of mechanical whirrs fill the air. "Here they come," Rock muttered, poising his arm cannon as the whirrs grew closer. Rock quickly shot his cannon out to his left and let out a blast of energy, smashing into what looked to Rock like an eyeball flying with airplane wings. Almost as soon as he shot down the flying drone, Rock heard millions more rush in on him. Biting his lip and taking a deep breath, Rock's feet took off, sending him running full speed down into the depths of the factory as a swarm of more of the eye drones closed in on him. Rock never knew the eye drones were capable of shooting at intruders until a few small laser blasts shot from their pupils at him, singeing the surface of his armor as he weaved in and out of their way with agility he never knew he had. The swarm of drones began to form like a fog around him, and before he knew it, Rock's arm felt like it was set alight from the massive numbers of energy shots his arm cannon fired into the air. One drone shattered and exploded into thousands of pieces with every shot, and it was replaced by three of four more soon after. Suddenly finding himself being chased down a narrow corridor, Rock saw what looked like a massive shutter begin to slowly decend from the ceiling, seconds away from sealing him inside the hallway. Summoning whatever speed his aching legs had left in them, Rock dashed at the falling shutter. Just as he was seconds away from colliding with it, Rock kicked his legs out from under him, sending himself sliding fluidly along the smooth floor, slipping underneath the shutter just before it slammed shut. Finding the rest of the hallway oddly quiet, Rock took a few seconds to rest against the wall, breathe heavily and sigh, "Now I know why there's no more Megamen left."  
  
"Rock!" Roll's voice suddenly blared in his helmet, "Virtuloids are coming! There's at least five of them, and they'll be at the gates in ten minutes! Have you found those fuel capsules yet?"  
  
Flexing his cannon, Rock muttered, "I've been trying to stay alive more than looking for some capsules."  
  
"Well you'd better hurry up and find them. Those Virtuloids know what we're after, and they've no doubt put up some heavy security around where they store the fuel caps."  
  
Rock grimaced. "Is that generator doing any better?"  
  
"Not yet," said Roll. "But for now, you'd better keep moving. Those drones know where you are, and they won't stop hunting you until they've destroyed you."  
  
Rock pushed himself off of the wall by his hips. "I hope I can find a way out," he muttered to himself, looking behind him at the closed shutter.  
  
"Come back safe, Rock," Roll said as Rock heard the transmission cut.  
  
"Easier said than done," Rock muttered, dashing down the corridor again.  
  
The lighting suddenly grew dimmer as Rock pushed deeper into the factory. The eye drones swooped on him around every corner, with each becoming fodder of Rock's cannon soon after. Running as quickly as he could, Rock finally dashed into a large room, managing to lose the drones chasing him. It was almost pitch-black in the room, so dark that Rock barely skidded to a halt in time to stop himself from tumbling down into a deep depression in the middle of the room. Rock strained his eyes, squinting in the darkness to look around. The giant pit, one which Rock could only interpet as a mining pit, spanned the entire room, leaving only a thin sliver of floor at the other side of the room, right in front of an open hallway. Rock bit his lip nervously, knowing right away he had no chance of leaping over the pit, even with a running start. Suddenly, he heard the same whirr of small machines float closer to him, and Rock hastily changed his mind. Edging back to the entrance, Rock dashed towards the pit, and he then thought of speeding forward with inhuman velocity. As soon as the thought left his mind, some force behind him blasted from his feet, shooting him straight forward towards the pit with heartstopping speed. Surprised by his sudden burst of wind blasting against his face, Rock leapt off of the edge, flying in midar further than he thought he would have ever been able to leap in his life. But seconds later, Rock began to lose air in the middle of the pit, and Rock began to kick his legs in futility, wishing he had a second chance to jump the pit. Another burst of an invisible power hit his feet as soon as he wanted to jump again, and Rock suddenly found himself leaping upwards again, as if he had just leapt off of thin air. The second jump propelled him so far that Rock collided noisily with the wall on the other side. On instinct, Rock put his hands in front of him to protect himself, crashing into the wall with jarring recoil. Rock was surprised to find himself slowly sliding down the wall, as it his hands were somehow sticking to the wall like two magnets sticking to each other. Dropping to the ground as soon as he took away his hands, Rock landed noisily on his feet in front of the wide-open hallway on the other side of the pit. Pondering the discoveries of his new body, Rock made a mental note to ask Auto what else it could do for him as he dashed down the new hallway.  
  
It was not long before Rock came to another screeching halt, nearly crashing into another thick shutter that blockaded the hallway. Knowing that the drones were close behind him, Rock aimed his cannon at the center of the wall, charged up all the energy his arm could hold, and unleashed it at the shutter. The kickback nearly floored Rock, and he snarled quietly in frustration when he saw the shuttere was barely scratched. Hearing the drones floating closer down the corrdor after him, Rock got back to his feet and fired rapidly at the shutter. The shutter barely shook at all from Rock's assault, and he grew so desperate to evade his hunters that he growled, "Come on, open!" smacking his fist on the shutter. The shutter suddenly zipped back into the ceiling, leaving Rock staring in dumbfounded surprise, looking into the large room the shutter once sealed. Quickly shaking the confusion, as soon as Rock passed under the shutter, it came crashing down behind him again. With no other way to go, Rock ventured into the middle of the oddly spacious chamber. Rock was overjoyed when he saw a crate sitting in the middle of the room labelled "Fuel C." Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, Rock strolled towards the crate and put both hands around it.  
  
As soon as he touched it, an automated voice said, "Input security code."  
  
"Security code?" Rock murmured.  
  
Suddenly, the floor opened up around the crate, and it was swallowed up by a trap door and covered again before Rock could get a firm grip on it. A loud crash roared from behind him and the ground shook violently. Rock spun around only to find that a gigantic heap of machinery had fallen from the ceiling behind him, and was now aiming the barrel of a giant cannon straight at him. Rock barely managed to roll to saftey as the cannon shot a gigantic laser like a thunderbolt at him, melting the tip of his shoulder armor in seconds. Rock responded by aiming his own arm cannon at the faceless machine and firing away. The cannon took awhile to slowly move back in line with Rock, and again it's intense blast came within inches of incinerating Rock. Realizing the machine's sluggishness, Rock stood in one place, ready to leap to his side at any moment, and began focusing all his cannon's energy into one shot again. Just as his cannon reached its limit, the machine's cannon fired, blasting against his chest. Rock felt like he was hit by a semi trailer was the blast floored him in a heartbeat. Dazed and winded, Rock barely found enough energy in time to roll out of the way of another devastating blast. Formulating a quick strategy in his head, Rock dashed to one side of the room, keeping his aim upon the middle of the machine, unleashing blast after blast of energy at its center. As soon as he reached one end of the room, Rock zigzagged back to the other side, keeping constant fire upon that one spot of the machine. The mechanical mountain's cannon kept trying to follow him around, but Rock was much too fast for it to keep track of, and soon, with time and heavy damage from Rock's cannon, the machine caught alight. And with a high-pitched whine, the machine began to crumble into a giant pile of smouldering scrap.  
  
As soon as the fire died down, Rock saw the crate pop back out of the floor. Clutching the sore spot of his armored ribs, Rock walked over to the crate and hoisted it up onto his shoulders, and he sighed in relief when no other giant machine ambushed him.  
  
"Rock! Are you still inside?" Roll's voice blared at him.  
  
"Yeah," Rock replied.  
  
"What are you doing?" Roll shrieked, "The Virtuloids have been inside for five minutes! Have you even gotten the caps yet?"  
  
"I've got 'em, don't worry," Rock said, half annoyed by Roll's nagging and half panicked at the thought of running into a Virtuloid.  
  
"Well what are you waiting for? Get out of there!"  
  
Rock ran towards the shutter and smacked it again with his fist. The shutter did not even budge. "Oh shit," Rock muttered, glancing around the room for another way out. A small hatch on the wall caught his eye, and Rock made no hesitation to blast it open and dive down it.  
  
He landed clumsily on his head seconds later. The air was fresh and more of it was gently blowing on him from above. Picking himself up, Rock rubbed his forehead and groaned, thankful for his sturdy helmet. When his vision uncrossed, Rock was delighted to see that he was now outside the factory, with the crate of fuel resting at his feet, standing below what looked like a giant air exhaust vent. Picking the box up on his shoulders again, Rock carried it along with him as he slid over the gates and quickly dashed as far away from the factory as he could.  
  
Once he was certain he was out of danger, Rock placed the crate down beside a large boulder and rested his back against the stone. "Wow, what a rush," Rock grinned to himself. "Roll, I'm out."  
  
"You cut it awfully close, Rock," Roll sighed. "Blues was worried sick about you. How are the caps?"  
  
Rock lifted the lid of the crate and peeked inside. "They look fine," Rock replied. "How long until you can warp me back?"  
  
"Ten minutes," came Roll's reply. "The Virtuloids are no doubt crawling all over the factory looking for you now, so in the meantime, keep yourself scarce, okay?"  
  
"Can do," Rock replied as he heard the transmission fizz out. Lifting the bounder by just a bit with his body's superhuman strength, Rock kicked out a small hole in the soft dirt underneath the boulder, slid the crate into it with his foot, and gently set the giant rock down again. "Better keep you hidden for now," Rock muttered to the buried crate. Taking his helmet off, Rock's sweat-matted hair fluffed up again in a matter of seconds in the gentle breeze. Flexing his arms, Rock smirked. "Dead or not, I think I'm going to like this new body."  
  
Suddenly, Rock heard something pop up from behind the boulder and exclaim, "Hold it right there!" 


	4. Encounter

Rock whirled around, only to find himself staring down the barrel of another arm cannon. "Oh, I'm sorry," said the owner, "I thought you were one of them."  
  
The cannon reverted back into a giant hand, and Rock was soon looking into the sparkling green eyes of another humanoid. "Them?" Rock asked. "Oh, you mean humans."  
  
"Of course," said the android, hopping over the boulder and landing beside Rock. The lean and slender armored body modelled like a woman brushed her long blonde hair off her shoulders. "We got a few reports that one of them was raiding the fuel plant."  
  
Rock looked at the large factory in the distance, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. "Human? I doubt it," Rock grinned knowingly. "Those weaklings couldn't even dream of doing something like this."  
  
The android beside him giggled. "You'd be surprised what those humans are stupid enough to try," she said. "Oh, I'm sorry, my name's Marie. What's yours?"  
  
"Rock."  
  
"Rock," Marie pondered. "I haven't seen or heard of you before. Are you one of the newer Virtuloids?"  
  
"You could say that," Rock said.  
  
Marie looked back at the factory. "What are you doing out here?" she asked, stepping forward.  
  
It was that sudden image of Marie's face accented by the slowly setting sun that made Rock's memory jar. A flash of another woman, almost exactly like Marie, raced through his head and vanished as quickly as it appeared.  
  
"Something wrong?"  
  
Rock blinked and shook off his daze. "What are you doing here?" Rock quickly answered Marie with another question.  
  
"I asked you first," said Marie.  
  
"Damaged," Rock said, tapping on the slightly discolored part of his armor. "I caught wind of something happening in the factory an hour ago. When I got in, the drones in the factory turned against me."  
  
Marie blinked in disbelief. "Those wimpy little drones did that to you?" she asked skeptically.  
  
"You try fighting off two hundered at once," Rock retorted.  
  
"The drones turned against you?" she asked, "How?"  
  
"Whoever's raiding the factory must have something to do with it," Rock played along.  
  
"Oh, well it's a good thing you didn't run into the main security turret in the fuel cap storage chamber," Marie said. "Last time that thing went bezerk, it wiped out an entire platoon."  
  
"Lucky me," Rock muttered. "Now, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Oh, perimeter patrol," she replied. "I just wait around places like these when we're flushing out humans. Some manage to get away sometimes, and when they think they're safe..." she said, quickly dragging her thumb across her throat, grinning.  
  
It took all of Rock's willpower to stop himself from shivering. "You want to know what I heard?" Rock said, quickly changing the subject. "I heard that some of them were looking for other dead humans to make into a super-powerful robot."  
  
Marie looked at Rock in dumbfounded confusion, and then she burst out in laughter. "God, that's the most absurd thing I've ever heard," she laughed.  
  
"Yeah, stupid isn't it?" Rock grinned, laughing along with and at her.  
  
Marie's laugh faded into a sigh as she glanced at a small device on her wrist. "Oh, it's already time to give it in," she said. "I guess there's no humans for me to axe today," she sighed, dissapointed.  
  
"Tommorow's another day," Rock hummed, trying his best to maintain his composure.  
  
"Well, I'm off to the factory to help clean up the mess. Coming?" she asked.  
  
"I'd love to, but I've got to be somewhere soon," Rock replied.  
  
"Oh," said Marie, a little wishfully. "Well, I hope I'll see you around again sometime," she said, sprinting towards the factory, "See ya!"  
  
"Likewise!" Rock waved after her. As soon as Marie was but a shadow at the gates of the distant building, Rock breathed, "Even the female Virtuloids are cold blooded."  
  
"Hey Rock!" Roll's voice cheerfully piped from his helmet, "The generator's got enough power to bring you back. Do you still have the caps?"  
  
Rock rolled the boulder over with his foot and picked up the crate from the ground. Putting his helmet back on and holding up the crate, he said, "I've got them."  
  
Before he could say another word, Rock was whisked away into thin air.  
  
*****  
  
Rock quickly found himself in the dark underground bunker again, stepping out of the coffin-like machine with the crate under his arm. "Welcome back," said Roll, smiling at him from a computer kiosk at his right, taking off her headset.  
  
"The caps?" Blues asked, standing in front of him with Auto.  
  
"Right here," said Rock, patting the crate gently with his other hand.  
  
"I'll take those," said Auto, taking the crate from Rock, carrying it like a barrel across his chest, and quickly disappearing into the depths of the hideout.  
  
"I take it you're not too damaged?" Blues asked clamly, looking at Rock's melted shoulder armor and the blemish on his side.  
  
"Just a little tired," said Rock.  
  
"Well rest up," said Blues, "You've got a big day tommorrow."  
  
Rock sighed and pulled up an empty chair beside Roll. "How do you like your new body?" Roll asked.  
  
"Awesome," Rock grinned.  
  
"Good," said Blues, "because now I think we'll need it for more than just fighting."  
  
Rock looked up at Blues inquizitively. "What do you mean?" Rock asked.  
  
"It seems like you're new Virtuloid-like body has helped you make yourself a new friend," Blues said.  
  
Rock's eyes widened. "How did you know?"  
  
Roll tapped on her headset in her lap. "I heard it all, you know," she said.  
  
"If you could get that female Virtuloid to open up to you like that with just idle chit-chat," Blues reasoned, rubbing his chin, "Imagine what she could tell us about the inner workings of the Virtuloid ranks, or even Masterframe itself."  
  
"It's promising alright," said Roll cheerfully.  
  
Suddenly, the dim lightbulbs that illuminated the room lit up brightly. "Ow," Roll murmured, shielding her eyes, "Jeez, that's bright..."  
  
"It's been awhile since they've seen light this bright," Blues muttered, looking at Rock after glancing at Roll.  
  
"They?" Rock asked.  
  
Blues replied calmly, "I'm blind."  
  
Rock's jaw dropped silently. He gazed at Blues, and suddenly realized that Blues could not gaze back. "But- then how did you know I had green eyes?" Rock asked.  
  
"Auto told me," Blues replied placidly.  
  
"Oh," Rock murmured, flushing red with sheepishness. "I was wondering why you wore sunglasses in this dark hideout."  
  
"These aren't sunglasses," Blues said, "These are audio-wave receptors." When Rock gave Blues a confused look, Blues said, "You know how a bat sees in the dead of night? It sends out super-high sonic waves that bounce off objects and back to it. These glasses are doing that right now, and they're giving my brain a picture instead of using my eyes. Oh, and Roll, you left the CPU out of the recharger jack again."  
  
"Did I? Oh," she murmured, reaching below the kiosk and fiddling with an assortment of switches.  
  
Rock rubbed his eyes and slouched deeper into the chair. "I'm sorry Blues," Rock groaned, "I just... need some time to adjust... to everything."  
  
"I understand," said Blues, "It's not every day that a guy gets brought back from the dead to save his fellow men." When Roll cleared her throat loudly, Blues added, "And women."  
  
Just then, Auto came back into the room, wiped his forehead and let out a heavy sigh. "The caps are installed," he said. "This batch should last us for another few years."  
  
"Another few years?" Rock asked. "Just how long have you been hiding down here?"  
  
"Six years, four months, and seventeen days to be exact," Blues said quickly.  
  
"And we're hating every minute of it," Roll pouted.  
  
Suddenly, a faint bleeping came from Blues' wrist. "It's ten o'clock," said Blues, looking at his watch, "Time to pack in."  
  
Roll put her headset on the counter of the kiosk, stretched her arms and yawned. "Good," she murmured, standing up and stretching her back. "Night, Rock."  
  
Auto had already vanished from the room and Roll did soon as well. Just as soon as Rock stood up, Blues said, "I'll show you to your quarters, Rock. Believe me, you'll need all the rest you can get." 


	5. Amnesia

Rock rolled over. His body felt a lot different now that he had left his armor. Part of him was glad to have the extra weight off of his shoulders, but when he looked at what was left of his own body, he wished the armor was his body. Chunks of flesh on his torso were missing, pieces that Auto told him were too decayed to keep, now replaced with steel that poked into what was left of his body every so often. He looked at his arms, pasty pale white, and he could have sworn that he felt something clicking when he moved his left elbow. The hard matress on the floor that he lay on with a thin tarp and a piece of a tire, wrapped in patchy fabric as a pillow was the first time he had the chance to rest his worn body. Even if it was the spartian bed instead, Rock could not sleep at all, his mind already much too occupied with thoughts of his new life as a Megaman.  
  
Rubbing the back of his neck, Rock stared at the low ceiling of the small and dark room, staring up at the ceiling and examining the thin crack that ran along the middle. Even though it was almost a whole day, it seemed like only a few minutes ago that he had woken up face-down on the operating table, seeing Blues and Auto for the first time with nothing but his body and a scattered memory of the man he was before. His thoughts turned to the factory, and how his new body could perform feats that Rock still could not believe he could execute. More sooner than later, Rock thought about the first, and only, Virtuloid he met. There was something about Marie that made his mind tick. Something from within the buried memories in his subconsiousness surfaced whenever he saw her in his head; the image of another human, with flowing blonde hair like Marie's, in front of a setting sun. Rock clamped his eyes shut and tried to force his brain to remember, but nothing came back.  
  
Rock groaned and rolled over onto his side. Shivering, Rock pulled the tarp higher up on his body, covering the tip of his shoulders as his toes peeked out from the bottom. Wrapping his arms around himself, Rock wondered how the others could stand living like this for years on end. Looking at the small remnants of a tiny wristwatch by the head of the matress on the floor beside him, Rock saw that it was exactly midnight, with only five hours to go until Blues told him it was time for all of them to wake up. He began to wonder if his former self was anything like what he was now, and if his previous persona could live like he was living now. Rock tried to imagine himself, as what he was before his death, in the life he had lived before. Meeting his friends, if he had any, coming home to his family, if he had a family or even a home. Nothing came back to him, and Rock found himself on the verge of breaking up.  
  
Marie. The Virtuloid came back to his mind again, and Rock was powerless to flush her out again. Rock had to admit he found her attractive, but at the same time, his stomach churned when he thought of the pleasure she got in slitting human throats like a sport. Rock wondered how someone so beautiful could be so heartless as he rolled onto his other side. Rubbing his eyes, Rock thought about what Blues had said, how he was to use her to get information, how easy it would be to win her trust, and how deavastated she would be if she knew his true motives.  
  
Rock's thoughts finally shifted away from Marie. He wondered if all Virtuloids were as human-careless as Marie was, or if they were even worse. Rock kept wondering what Blues had in store for him in the morning, if it were fighting actual Virtuloids. He suddenly found himself wondering why he was helping them, and he soon concluded that he was the only one who could. Rock began to ponder if his former self was as trustingly compassionate as he was now.  
  
Rock rolled onto his other side again and looked at the tiny watch. It was three-thirty, and Rock felt no more will to sleep than he did before. Beginning to try and remember if he was an insomniac in his last life, Rock found his memory was again dealing him blanks. Rock looked at his hands again, feeling the barrels of his cannons tucked inside his wrists and nothing else, not even a hint of flesh nor vein. He began to wonder how long he would have to live like this, and knew that maybe only the barrels of his cannons would know for sure...  
  
Suddenly, the small clock beeped at him. Rock looked at the tiny watch and saw that it had just turned five o'clock. Immediately, a knocking came from behind his door. "Hey Rock, wake up," came the voice of Blues.  
  
Rock groaned and sat up, kicking the tarp off of his body. Swiveling over to the side of the bed, Rock put on the thin long-sleeved shirt beside his bed, slid on the matching pants and socks, and stood up. Stretching his arms, Rock yawned as he opened the door.  
  
Blues was the first thing that met his eyes. "Sleep well?" Blues asked.  
  
"Didn't sleep at all," Rock muttered.  
  
Blues sighed. "You'll get used to it," he said, "After the first year it'll actually feel comfortable."  
  
Rock decided not to ask Blues how he would know. "So what are you going to have me do today?" Rock asked.  
  
"Not what I'm going to have you do," said Blues, "What you want to do."  
  
Rock gave Blues a confused look. "Come with me to the main room," said Blues, "and we'll start the briefing." 


	6. Beginning

The photographs were piled in six different stacks on the small, round table. Rock, Blues, Roll and Auto sat down around them, and waited for Blues to speak. "Up until now," Blues said to Rock, "We've only been able to take quick snapshots of thier resource facilities. Without these, the Virtuloids know that thier operations would cease in a matter of weeks, so they've put up heavy security around them."  
  
"So you're asking me to break my way in there and level the place?" Rock asked.  
  
"In simpler terms," said Blues, "yes. Of course, your raid on the factory yesterday turned some heads, so they've stepped up thier defenses a bit. Word has it that the Virtuloid officers that supervise those plant's operations have come to help defend them."  
  
"So, where are they?" Rock asked.  
  
Blues pushed a stack of photos across the table to Rock, and Rock began to thumb through them. "These are the six most critical plants that the Virtuloids need to survive," said Blues. "A hydro-electric dam, an incineration plant, an ore mine, a sub-zero storage hold, a nuclear power plant, and a weather-monitoring station. When all of these have been destroyed, we'll have them at their weakest."  
  
"Sounds good," said Rock, "Which should I attack first?"  
  
"Your choice," said Blues. "Go for whichever target you think you're ready for."  
  
Rock took some time to paw through the photographs again. "I'll go with the ore mines," he said at length.  
  
"Auto, prepare the teleportation machine," Blues ordered.  
  
"I'm on it," Auto said cheerfully, getting up and moving to the hallway.  
  
"Oh wait, Auto," Rock called, halting Auto.  
  
"Yeah? What?"  
  
"I've been meaning to ask you about my new body," said Rock, "I want to know all of what I can do with it first."  
  
"Oh, that's right," Auto said, "I never got the chance to tell you. Blues, mind if I enlighten him before he goes?"  
  
"Take all the time you need," Blues replied. Auto beckoned Rock to follow him out of the room.  
  
*****  
  
Rock, lying on his stomach on the same operating table he awoke on, felt like a vulture was picking apart his neck. "Ouch, watch it," Rock winced as Auto prodded the inside of his vertebrae with a thin instrument.  
  
"Hey, you wanted me to spruce you up?" Auto asked, "Well that's what I'm doing, so lie still."  
  
"I just wanted to- ow!" Rock said, pausing to yelp, "-just wanted to know what my body can do."  
  
"Well, I must admit, when I first put you back together, it wasn't my best of my work," Auto said, "Blues kind of rushed me."  
  
"Well- ow! God damnit!" Rock gritted his teeth, "Do you have to keep me awake while you cut me open and poke to death?"  
  
"Yes, I can't garuntee the stability of your nervous system yet," said Auto, "And I can't poke you to death when you're already dead."  
  
"Smart ass- ow," Rock muttered.  
  
"Well, if you think you're in pain now, I could have restored your nerves to full sensitivity."  
  
"I hate being dead," Rock pouted.  
  
"Well, you'd better get used to it," Auto said as Rock winced again, "But hey, look on the bright side. At least you're getting a second go on this mortal plane."  
  
Rock groaned as Auto began to stitch up the skin on his neck again. "Okay, well- ow- what exactly can my body do?" he asked.  
  
Auto paused to dump his bloodied instuments in the nearby sink. "Well, for starters," he said, "I think you've already noticed your superhuman speed and strength."  
  
Rock sat up and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the ribbing of threads poking out of his skin. "Yeah, I know," he said, "And the two cannons in my arms," he added, "What else?"  
  
Auto rolled up a chair beside the table and sat down with Rock. "Anti-gravity speed propellers in your feet allow you to fly forward very quickly, but only for about a second. Those same propellers can give off a blast of anti-gravity in midair, just enough to do your jumping for you. But the propellers can only give you one burst, until you land again, they won't work."  
  
"I found that out in the factory," said Rock, "And I also found that I can slide down walls by just putting my hand to them. Is that all?"  
  
"Close," said Auto, "But not yet. I modelled you after Megaman and X, remember?"  
  
"Yeah? So?"  
  
"So, if you can destroy a Virtuloid, put your hand on his body, and your arm cannon can copy a part of his weaponry system. But which part it copies is completely random, so I can't garuntee you that it would be totally reliable."  
  
"The more weapons, the better," Rock muttered. "Anything else?"  
  
"No," said Auto, "but I'm still going to be working on new weapons and adapters for you," said Auto. "I'm not having any luck right now, though, but I'm sure I can build something."  
  
Suddenly, Blues walked into the room. "Rock, are you ready yet?" He asked.  
  
"Ready as I'm ever going to be," Rock said, standing up.  
  
"Good," said Blues, "because we really can't afford to pass up any more time. Those Virtuloids are expecting another attack, no doubt, and the more time we waste, the more time they have to prepare."  
  
"Well, I'd better get moving," Rock said, following Blues out of the room. "Hey Auto, good luck with your projects."  
  
"Thanks Rock," Auto said as Rock and Blues disappeared, "you're gonna' need it..." 


	7. Ground

Rock was standing at the mouth of a gigantic cave seconds later. Quickly diving between two large boulders as soon as he realized he was out in the open, Rock tapped on the side of his helmet as soon as he was safely hidden. "Roll, I'm at the mines," Rock whispered.  
  
"Good," said Roll, "You know what to do, just be careful, Rock. Who knows what those Virtuloids have in those mines."  
  
"Something not too welcoming, I'm sure," Rock muttered.  
  
"I can't really tell if our signal will reach into those caves, Rock," said Roll, "So you'll be on your own for awhile."  
  
"Just leave it to me," Rock said, morphing his forearm into a cannon again.  
  
"We're counting on you, Rock," said Roll worriedly, "Please come back in at least one piece."  
  
"I'll try," Rock said as he heard the connection sizzle out. Charging the energy from his reserves into his arm cannon, Rock smirked to ease himself and said, "Let's rock."  
  
*****  
  
The heavy iron door came blasting off of it's hinges in a booming explosion, and Rock came dashing past it seconds later. Almost as soon as he crossed over the thresholds, a deafening alarm screamed though the air. A quick shot to a small electrical box on the side of the wall silenced the alarm immediately, and Rock could hear a swarm of drones rushing towards him. The first flash of light that caught the corner of his eye made Rock's arm cannon fire a blast upon it. A small blast rocked the insides of the cave as Rock continued to run through the tunneled-out corridors. The corridor widened sharply in front of him, and Rock found himself dashing towards a large pit, littered all about with various cranes and pulleys. Pushing himself as far as he could into the air as he leapt off the edge of the pit, Rock landed firmly in the empty carriage of an ore basket, being gently raised upwards to a hole in the roof of the cavern. Reading his arm cannon, Rock waited with bated breath as the carriage whisked him into the roof and to the upper level. As soon as he saw the ground of the new platform, Rock lept off of the cart and let his cannon fire in front of him at the first thing he saw. The small bulldozer-like robot was blasted onto its side, and another shot from Rock's cannon set it ablaze. Dashing over the ruined robot, Rock ran into the next corridor he came across.  
  
A sudden jab of pain in his back sent Rock stumbling as he ran along the ground. Spinning himself around, Rock opened a barrage of firepower at the cloud of eye-drones behind him, each exploding in a shower of flames and shrapnel. Another sharp jab in his side sent Rock whirling around and firing madly, laying chaos to the army of mass of various robots in front of him. When the corridor was silent, Rock rubbed his ribs. Rock began to wonder where he would find something to destroy the mines with, and he immediately thought of a horde of explosives levelling the entire caverns. Hoping to become lucky, Rock continued down the tunnels with dynamite on his mind.  
  
The cannon on his hand felt like it would met any second. Blasting anything that moved as he ran like a rabid wolf down the twisting tunnels made his head spin. He barely managed to recognize another large pit in front of him to jump in time, sending him sailing towards the other side. With a quick thrust of his legs in the air as he came to the middle of the chasm, Rock pushed himself into the air again, landing squarely on the other side of the mining pit.  
  
A sudden rumbling from beneath him made his nerves shiver. Suddenly, the ground opened up beneath him and swallowed him whole. Rock landed clumsily on his feet in another cavern, inside a small, empty cart on a rail track. Another rumble shook the caverns, and the cart began to move. Deciding to leave his life to luck, Rock readied his arm cannon and braced himself for the worst, as the rail cart slowly dropped down a steep hill. Rock looked down the plummeting railway, and was relieved to see nothing but a hazard-less ride down. But when another rumble caused the rails to fall apart, Rock screamed, "Oh shit!"  
  
The wheels of the cart skipped over the broken rails, jarring Rock as it skidded over the damaged tracks. As he fell down the steep hill, Rock saw an empty cart sitting lazily on a level platform ahead of him. Perching on the rim of the cart, Rock leapt out of the plummeting rail cart, only to land in the other one seconds later. The force of Rock's body crashing inside the small cart was enough to send it racing along the new set of tracks, just at the caves trembled again. Rock began to wonder what was making the tremors around him as the cart skidded into a low hole in the wall, so tight that Rock had to hide himself in the cart to slip past. When he stood again, Rock found himself gently coming to a halt at what looked like the end of the tracks. As soon as the cart stopped, Rock hopped out, and rubbed the back of his neck. "I've had it with the easy way out," He muttered, looking at the cart.  
  
It was then that Rock noticed another heavy shutter in the spacious room he now stood in, the same kind he encountered in the fuel factory. Knowing it may be his only way out, Rock knocked on the shutter, and it was immediately pulled up into the wall, revealing a small, short tunnel leading to another shutter. Taking a deep breath, Rock stepped over the threshold, and the shutter immediately came slamming down behind him. Rallying all of what remained of his courage, Rock walked to the shutter ahead of him, and gave it a light touch. The shutter came up in a flash, revealing a large room in front of him. Stepping past the shutter, it came crashing down behind him again, trapping Rock inside the room.  
  
Rock looked around, and saw that the room was completely bare, and the shutter that had let him in the room would not bugde a bit. "Roll, can you hear me?" Rock asked.  
  
"I'm reading you," came Roll's voice, marred by static and interference, "But not very well."  
  
"I'm trapped," said Rock, "I'm in some kind of room, and I can't see a way out."  
  
"How'd you get in?"  
  
"A retractable one-way wall. I can't go back through it."  
  
"Oh my- wait a second, Rock," Roll suddenly gasped.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Rock, there's a Virtuloid right beneath you!"  
  
Rock barely managed to leap to his side before a large drill shot up from the ground where he was a split-second ago. Another rumble made the whole ground shake, and Rock nearly fell over from the intense tremor. The ground split apart in front of him, and a large, bulky figure popped up from underneath the ground, and glared at Rock as soon as he landed. "Let me guess," said the Virtuloid, "The guy who raided the fuel factory?"  
  
"In the flesh," Rock replied.  
  
The Virtuloid sported numerous drills poking out from his body, most notably the three large augers that made his left hand. "You're certainly a brave-looking one," said the Virtuloid in his deep, scratchy voice, "What's your name?"  
  
"If you must call me something, my name is Rock."  
  
"The pleasure is all mine, Rock," said the Vitruloid plottingly. "They call me Ground. Remember that, it's going to be the last name you'll hear."  
  
With that, Ground charged at Rock, thrusting his massive drill-laden hand at Rock. Rock catapulted himself off of Ground's head like a hurdle horse, spun around in mid-air, and opened fire upon the back of Ground's neck. Ground only stumbled a bit, hardly shaken by Rock's attacks. As soon as Rock landed again, Ground dug his arm into the floor and tunnelled himself underground. The room was silent again, and Rock could only feel faint tremors shake the room. On gut instinct, Rock stepped to his left, narrowly avoiding the body of Ground shooting up from the surface. Rock focused a charge of energy into his cannon, and unleashed it upon Ground's chest. The blow barely stunned the massive Virtloid, and it only made Ground spin around and jab his arm in Rock's direction. The drill on Ground's arm suddenly shot out at Rock, catching Rock by surprise. Rock soon found himself blown to the ground as the point of the auger dug itself into Rock's shoulder. Rock wailed in agony as he tore the drill out of his shoulder, feeling a stiff numbness shoot through his arm. As soon as Rock could stand again, he found that Ground was nowhere in sight. Another rumble shook the room, and Rock again managed to skip to his side and avoid Ground's drill-riddled body from skewering him. As soon as he landed, Ground charged at Rock again, with Rock leaping over the stampeding robot again. Charging his arm cannon again, Rock sent a massive blast of energy sailing towards Ground, smashing against Ground's back. Ground stumbled forward a bit, and suddenly collapsed to his knee.  
  
"Had enough?" Rock jeered.  
  
"I'm just getting started," Ground replied.  
  
With that, Ground swivelled around and faced Rock, smashing his drills into the ground and beginning to dig. A shockwave of a tremor took Rock off of his feet, landing clumsily on his backside. As soon as Rock got to his knee, Ground had charged at him again, ramming his drills into Rock's already wounded shoulder. Rock screamed in agony when Ground pinned him to the wall by his drills. Keeping Rock stuck to the wall by his augers, Ground snickered. "And now, Rock, you die."  
  
"No," Rock breathed weakly, "You die."  
  
With that, Rock thrust the barrel of his cannon, along with all the energy he had charged inside, straight into Ground's face. And with a blinding flash, Rock unleashed it all in less than a second. Ground's head was roasted to ashes instantly, leaving his body to slump to the floor. Rock winced as he pried Ground's drills out of his body, pressing his hand against Ground's chest.  
  
Suddenly, a wave of energy surged through his body. He felt his arm cannon feel like it had tied itself in a knot inside, as new knowlege suddenly forced its way into his brain. Rock still stood against the wall, too stunned to move as Ground's drills slid out of his body and collapsed to the floor. Quickly remembering Auto's words, Rock aimed his cannon at the wall across from him and fired. A large drill shot from his cannon, and quickly spiked itself into the wall. Rock almost forgot about the pain he was in as he admired his cannon. "Sweet."  
  
"Rock! Are you alright?"  
  
Roll's voice in his ear was nothing short of relieving. "I'm a little hurt, but I s'pose I'm fine," Rock replied.  
  
"What about the Virtuloid?" Roll asked.  
  
"Took care on him," Rock grinned.  
  
"Okay, we'll get you teleported out of there in a sec," said Roll, "But first, you've got to find some way to get out of there and level the place."  
  
Rock looked at the drill in the wall, and got an idea. Forming an auger from his arm cannon, Rock turned to a soft spot of the cavern wall, and willed the drill to spin. It did, and Rock soon found himself tunneling through the wall. "Now to find some fireworks!"  
  
*******  
  
Rock grinned to himself as he looked at the smoking remains of the mines in the distance, highlighted by the setting sun. "Hey Roll, I've demolished the mines," he said.  
  
"Good, I'll start the- what?"  
  
Rock heard Roll's voice suddenly cut out. "Roll?" Rock asked. No reply. "Roll?"  
  
"Who are you talking to?"  
  
The voice of a woman other than Roll from behind him made Rock spin around. Marie was standing behind him with her hands on her hips, looking at him questioningly.  
  
"I-" Rock stammered, "Talking to myself," Rock said quickly, "It's an old habit."  
  
Marie then turned her head to look at the smoking remains of the mines. "What are you doing here?" Marie asked.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Rock asked back.  
  
"I asked you first," said Marie playfully.  
  
"Hunting," said Rock. "Ground told me he was expecting that same guy who raided the factory to come after the mines next."  
  
"Ground put you on patrol duty too?" Marie asked. "Did you see anything?"  
  
"Other than the mines suddenly exploding," Rock said, rubbing his injured shoulder, "I got caught by raining shrapnel."  
  
Marie looked at Rock's wound in concern. "You certainly are injury-prone, aren't you?"  
  
"I leean to live with it," Rock said impassively. "It's nothing I can't fix by myself."  
  
Marie looked at the ruined caves again. "Do you think he's still in there?" She asked.  
  
"Ground?"  
  
"No, whoever's been causing all this trouble," Marie said, a bit testily.  
  
Rock quickly glanced back at the mines. "Maybe," he said, "Thay guy's probably been blown to pieces by the looks of it."  
  
"Hopefully," said Marie. "I've been wondering how I should kill him when I get my hands on him."  
  
Rock grinned to himself. "Not if I catch him first."  
  
"Oh, you only wish you could," Marie taunted.  
  
Suddenly, Rock heard a faint beeping come from Marie's forearm armor. Marie raised her arm to her chest and tapped on her wrist. Suddenly, Marie gasped. "What?" Rock asked.  
  
"Ground," Marie gasped, "He's dead!" Rock pretended to be in shock. "That guy's going to have some hell to pay when we catch him," Marie growled.  
  
"No doubt," Rock said. Looking for an excuse to leave, Rock added, "Looks like I've got a report of death to file."  
  
Marie groaned. "Oh, I suppose I ought to file one too," she said. "Alpha gets pretty pissed when anyone misses one. Remember the last time someone skipped a report?" Rock, out of nervous cluelessness, shook his head. "Good," said Marie, "It's best you don't know," she shivered. "I'd hate to get on Alpha's bad list." Marie tapped on her wrist again, smiled at Rock again, and said, "Seeya!"  
  
With that, Marie suddenly vanished in a quick flash of light. "They can teleport too?" Rock mused.  
  
"Hey Rock, are you still there?"  
  
Roll's voice came into Rock's helmet again. "Roll, what happened?" Rock asked.  
  
"Blues told me to keep quiet," said Roll. "When we saw that Marie heading your way, Blues wanted to hear what she had to say. And Rock, who's Alpha?"  
  
Rock paused. "I don't have a clue," he muttered. "Now will you warp me back?"  
  
"Pushy today, aren't we?" Roll teased as Rock was suddenly whisked into thin air. 


	8. Lightning

The stack of the photographs of the ore mines lay ripped in two, leaving only five more stacks on the table. The lightbulb hanging from a wire on the ceiling waivered around the room, rolling their shadows all around the room as they looked at the other pictures.  
  
"Well, what do you want to do now, Rock?" Blues asked.  
  
Rock eyes the photographs intently. After a lengthy silence, Rock took the stack on his left. "I'll go for the power plant," he said.  
  
"Wait, Rock," said Auto, "I don't think that's a good idea yet."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Auto pushsed his glasses further up his nose. "If you got in contact with electricty in the power plant, I'm not sure if your body could handle the overload."  
  
Rock paused, and looked at the photographs again. "Well, there's only one way to destroy that power plant," said Rock, "I may as well go there now."  
  
Auto groaned. "Well, if you want to," he said. "I'll get the teleporter ready."  
  
When Auto left the room, Blues leaned over to Rock. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.  
  
"Positive."  
  
******  
  
After a blinding flash of light enveloped him, Rock was standing inside the gigantic threshold of the power plant. A sudden buzzing filled his ears, and Rock pressed the side of his helmet closer to his ear. "Roll? Roll, are you there?" When all Rock got for a reply was more static, he groaned. "I guess I'm doing this one alone." Taking a deep breath and coiling his knees, Rock took off into the plant.  
  
With all the speed his legs could muster, Rock barreled his way into the power plant, letting his cannon run wild, streaking stray energy blasts and flaming wreckage everywhere he went. Mechanical drones, everything from insects to walking lightning rods, came at him from every side, and as more and more swarmed around him, Rock took sharp turn after sharp turn around the winding corridors, and just when he thought he had lost them by running into a small dark room, he collided with something.  
  
A searing pain tore at his body as his arm began to shake and twitch, and Rock realized that he had just ran into an gigantic power motor, filling half of the room. Nursing his tingling shoulder, the motor suddenly began to grow more and more active, until the room was lit up in a flash.  
  
The doorway was suddenly sealed by another iron shutter, and the motor began to hum and blow smoke out from all around it. Rock backed away, and glanced around the room for another way out. Just as he saw that he was trapped, a small tube from the motor extended Rock's way, and a thick cloud of black smog blew into his face. Rock coughed and gagged as the smoke filled the room, and soon all he could see was nothing but a thick, endless haze.  
  
Suddenly, a blast of energy tore into his side. Purely on instinct, Rock fired his cannon, feeling the energy stun his stinging arm. More small jabs of pain blasted against his body, and Rock let his cannon loose around him, firing in any direction he could into the thick smog. Anchored to the spot in panic, Rock blasted anywhere his arm could point, and just as his arm felt like exploding from the intense energy his cannon shot, he suddenly stopped, resting his burning limb. The room had fallen silent, and Rock saw the smoke beginning to clear. When he could see the room around him again, Rock saw the giant motor was now nothing but a wrecked heap of junk, and a slew of wreckage lay around him. Breathing heavily, Rock looked around the room again, and noticed a thin space between the motor and the wall, just wide enough for him to slip through. Squeezing through the hole, Rock once again found himself in complete darkness. Suddenly, a doorway opened up in front of him, and Rock hastily leapt through it. Now inside of a dimly lit room, Rock saw nothing but four walls, a floor, ceiling, and another shutter blocking the door he came through. "Great," Rock muttered, rubbing his tingling arm, "This just gets better and better."  
  
Suddenly, the floors beneath his feet began to shake. A loud buzzing filled the air, and Rock's paralyzed arm began to stiffen as the crisp smell of electricity filled the air. There was a blinding flash, and then a bolt of lightning shot into his damaged arm. Rock screeched as he fell to his knee, clenching his stinging shoulder. A pair of footsteps echoed around the room, and soon, Rock found a tall, slender robot standing in front of him. "So, this is the Megaman I've been hearing so much about, eh?" He said, putting his hands on his hips.  
  
As soon as Rock shot out his arm cannon at the robot's chest, the Virtuloid grasped onto Rock's barrel and snickered cruelly. Suddenly, a wave of electicity surged through Rock's body, and Rock yowled in agony as the surge ripped through his every bone. The rush stopped when the Virtuloid released Rock from his grip, and a weak kick from the Virtuloid was enough to send the shivering Rock onto his side. As Rock lay on his back, trying in vain to stop his damaged arm from shaking, the Virtuloid pointed his finger at Rock's neck, and grinned. "Any last requests?"   
  
As the power surge began to wear off, Rock said, "Tell me your name."  
  
The Virtuloid shrugged. "Lightning."  
  
"Then do you know what your problem is, Lightning?" Rock asked with a sudden smirk, "You're too arrogant."  
  
With that, Rock jabbed his arm cannon into Lightning's knee, and fired a blast of energy into his joint. Lightning yelped as his leg collapsed from underneath him, letting Rock struggle back to his feet. Charging his arm cannon with as much power as his shocked arms could bear, Rock unleashed a blast at Lightning's head, barely enough to make Lightning flinch. Rock winced as his arm buckled with tingles running through his shoulder.  
  
Before Rock knew it, Lightning was back up on his feet. Rock aimed his cannon at Lightning once again and let out a quick blast at Lightning's chest. The blast bounced off of Lightning's armor, and Lightning hardly even stumbled. "So you want to play dirty, do you?" Lightning hissed. Rock began blasting his cannon in a panic, with each weak shot bouncing off of Lightning like pebbles. As Rock's arm began to sting and shake, he noticed two large poles attached to Lightning's back begin to shoot bolts of electricty between them as Lightning spread his feet and glared at Rock. The crackling bolts began to flare wildly as Lightning continued to lock his eyes on Rock, and Rock soon felt his electrocuted arm begin to shiver once more. As Lightning began to hum with the electricy surging between the tips of the poles on his back, Rock slowly backed away, bracing himself for the worst.  
  
With a sudden roar, Lightning threw his arms to his side, and a fierce wave of electicity blasted against the entire room around him. Rock screeched as he was knocked off of his feet and sent crashing head-first into a wall. Landing hard on his back, Rock groaned as rubbed his aching neck as the electricity around Lightning subsided. As soon as Rock sat up, he was blasted in the stomach with a jolt of electrcity. Rock howeld as he wrapped his arms around himself, kicking his legs as Lightning quickly walked to his side. Raising his palm, Lightning shot his hand around Rock's neck, and hoisted him up agaisnt the wall. And with another snarl, Lightning sent another surge through Rock's body. Rock felt like his body would tear itself apart before he would be electrocuted as Lightning continued to pump volt after volt into Rock's trembling body.  
  
Just before Rock felt he could take no more, his body suddenly exploded with a wave of energy, and his arm cannon sprouted one of Ground's drills. Lightning suddenly stopped his assault, staring at the drill with hatred. Releasing Rock, Lightning raised his other hand, and then sent a blast of electricty at Rock's drill. The bolt bounced off of the drill and flickered into the air. As Rock staggered back to his feet, Lightning sent a flurry of bolts at Rock's arm, with the metal drill deflecting each one all around the room. Once he had his scrambled wits recollected, Rock quickly held his drill-hand up to his chest, and Lightning continued to throw bolt after bolt at it, each bouncing off of it leaving not even a scratch.  
  
Rock grinned. "What's wrong, Lightning? Don't like my drill?"  
  
Just before Lightning could throw another bolt at him, Rock thrust his arm forward and shot his drill into Lightning's chest. The tip of the drill just managed to burrow into Lightning's chest, and Lightning suddenly dropped to his knees. Crackles of electricity began shooting out of the drill, and Lightning grew more and more visibly tired. Ripping the drill out of his chest Lightning threw the drill back at Rock, who had already found strength enough to sprout another drill from his cannon, knocking it away and firing another drill into Lightning's body. Lightning weezed as the drill began to shoot out more electrcty from his body, letting the dril drop out before collapsing onto his hands and knees. As Rock grew another drill from his cannon, Lightning shot another bolt at Rock's damaged arm, driving Rock back to his knee. As Lightning struggled back to his feet, Rock had already staggered back to his, and shot another drill into Lightnig's hand. Lightning screeched as the drill sped into the ground, anchoring Lightning to the floor. Just as Rock was about to fire again, the poles on Lightning's back flared up again, and another wave of electricity smashed Rock back against the wall. Lightning roared and struggled to free his hand from the drill, but it still remained pinned to the floor as the drill began shooting out more of Lightning's power. By the time Rock struggled back to his feet, Lightning was now barely moving, still trying to weakly wrench his arm free. Not wanting to take any more chance, Rock fired another drill at Lightning, spearing his other hand onto the floor, pinning his shoulders flat. "Goodbye, Lightning," said Rock, sprouting another drill from his cannon. Lightning screamed as Rock plunged the drill into his stomach, and soon, Lightning's scream turned to a moan, and then to silence. When all was finally quiet, Rock took a deep breath, and fell onto his back. His arms tingled and shivered, and his body felt like someone had set his every nerve on fire, but a grin stretched itself across his face. He had survived.  
  
Suddenly, Rock heard another pair of footsteps running towards the shutter from the hallway on the other side. Rock quickly bolted back to his feet and looked at Lightning's body. Rock teared out the drill in Lightning's stomach and kicked out the drills that pinned him down. With whatever strength his body had left in him, Rock lifted Lightning's body into his arms and felt his body copy Lightning's weapon systems just as the shutter flew open.  
  
"Lightning! Rock!" The Virtuloid who ran through the shutter gasped.  
  
"Marie," Rock sighed with relief, "Thank God you're here."  
  
Marie ran to Rock's side and looked at Lightning's face. "Lightning!" Marie shrieked, "Is he-?"  
  
Rock put on his best sorrowful face. "He's dead, Marie," said Rock. When Rock saw Marie's face twist up in a mix of shock and sadness, he added, "It was him- that guy who's been wrecking everything in sight. Lightning and I tried to stop him," Rock said, beginning to weeze, "But he was just too strong."  
  
Marie looked at Lightning's damaged body, and the looked at Rock's numerous wounds. "Give him to me," she said as Rock gently set Lightning into Marie's arms, "You'd better wapr back to HQ for repairs, quickly."  
  
Rock blinked. Roll had no idea that he needed to teleport out of the power plant. "I can't," said Rock, "My teleport system is damaged."  
  
Marie looked at Rock with curiousity. "Your teleport system is damaged?" She asked. When Rock nodded, she said, "The teleport system is practically indestructible, Rock."  
  
"I know," said Rock quickly, learning something knew, "We both took a lot of damage." Wondering what Marie was doing in the plant alone, Rock asked, "Where are the others?"  
  
"They thought that the Megaman would be attacking the hydro-electric dam next," said Marie. "You probably didn't hear the announcement, Alpha sent everyone to the dam. I thought that the dam would be the last place he'd attack, so I came looking around here."  
  
"Wait, if Alpha sent everyone to the dam, then why are you here?"  
  
Marie looked back at Rock straight in the eyes. "I should be asking you the same thing."  
  
Rock gagged. "I was excused," he said quickly. "I'm actually part of some special operations unit- We can do whatever we want unless Alpha says otherwise."  
  
Marie suddenly gasped. "You mean- you're part of the Alpha Elite?"  
  
Rock's eyes glanced around the room. "Uh, yeah," he said.  
  
Suddenly, Marie looked at him wishfully. "Oh God, please don't marhsall me for breaking my orders!" Marie pleaded, "Please!"  
  
Rock grinned. "All right, I'll let you off," he said, "But just this once."  
  
"Oh, thanks Rock," said Marie. "I'll get Lightning back to HQ for you." Suddenly, Marie said, "Oh Rock, your teleport system's damaged," she said, "I'd better warp you out of here too." Biting her lip, she took Rock's hand and said, "I'm not sure if mine can handle taking all three of us."  
  
"We're not going to get out of here any other way," said Rock.  
  
Marie took a deep breath, and the three instantly vanished. 


	9. Dawn

They appeared with a flash on top of the cliffside overlooking the ruined factory which Rock had destroyed days earlier, and Marie collapsed. Rock was quick to catch her, holding her steady in his arms as she sighed in tired defeat. "I guess I couldn't handle teleporting all three of us," she moaned.  
  
"Don't worry about it," said Rock, setting her down gently on the ground as the sun rose slowly from behind them. Rock shoved Lightning's body away with his foot as he steadied Marie in his arms.  
  
"Maybe if I rest a bit," Marie yawned, "I can recharge my teleport system," she said, sliding her head onto Rock's shoulder as a pillow.  
  
Suddenly, Rock's memory jarred again. He saw himself with that same blonde-haired woman, with her arms wrapped around his shoulders as they watched the sun go down. It lasted only for a second, but Rock felt like it was for hours.  
  
"Something wrong, Rock?" Marie asked.  
  
Rock blinked, and then shook off his daze. "Nothing," he said, "I'm fine."  
  
"I daydream a lot too," said Marie, still resting her head on Rock's shoulder. "You want to know what I think is really strange?" she asked, "I always wonder why it's darkest before dawn."  
  
Dawn. Rock's memory snapped again, and suddenly, something somewhere inside of his scrambled memory connected. Her name was Dawn, Rock thought to himself with joy, that woman's name was Dawn! Rock looked down at Marie, and he studied her face. Her jaw, eyes, nose, lips, everything about her almost exactly fit with his memory of the woman he had obviously once held dear. More memories of Dawn came fleeting back to him now, and as they all fit into place one by one, it took the rest of Rock's strength for him to fight back tears.   
  
Marie sighed suddenly, breaking Rock out of his dreaming. "Rock," she said, "There's something I've always wanted to ask you."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Your skin, it's so pale," she said, "Why?"  
  
Rock crossed his eyes and looked at the skin on his nose. It was almost a shade of plaster white, and once he thought about it, he could feel what could only be dark bags underneath his eyes. "That was just the way I was designed, I guess," Rock said at length.  
  
"It makes you look so distant," she said, "So detached and cold- like you're some kind of ghost."  
  
"I have left a lot behind me," Rock said glumly.  
  
"I never see you anywhere," she said, "No one else back at HQ has even heard of you."  
  
Rock looked away. "I try to keep a low profile," he said, "That's just the kind of guy I am."  
  
Marie sighed, and put her arm on Rock's other shoulder. "Y'know Rock," she said, "You're a pretty interesting guy. Strange, but still interesting."  
  
Rock let himself smile, remembering how Dawn had once draped her arms around him as well. "You're something else too, Marie," he said. With the warm feeling of Dawn now brewing inside of him, Rock put his arm around Marie's shoulders as well. "You're pretty cute."  
  
Rock suddenly realized that he had let himself say that. Marie flushed a bright red. "Rock, you're so sweet," she said.  
  
Rock could have sworn that his still heart had just managed a single beat. He knew that he should keep his distance from her and prevent an attachment, but with Marie resting peacefully in his arms, Rock's brain was dead set on putting Dawn in her place. "How are you feeling now?" Rock asked.   
  
Marie yawned, and then suddenly stood up. "Fine enough," she said, stretching her arms.  
  
Rock rose with her, rubbing his ribs. As soon as Marie motioned to pick up Lightning's body, Rock put his hand on her shoulder, anchoring her to the spot. "You better just teleport yourself this time," said Rock, "I'll take Lightning."  
  
Marie blinked. "But Rock, your teleport system's damaged."  
  
"I can walk," he said, "Some excercise wouldn't hurt."  
  
"Thanks, Rock," said Marie as Rock hoisted Lightning's body into his arms. Just before Rock got a firm hold on Lightning, Marie leaned closer to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Take care, Rock," she said, winking at him before vanishing.  
  
Rock stared over the cliff, stunned in disbelief. He dropped Lightning's body and rubbed his cheek with surprise. Quickly blasting a hole in the ground, Rock kicked Lightning's body into the pit, and pushed dirt back in with his foot. As soon as he was finished, Rock was whisked into thin air.  
  
----  
  
As soon as Rock flashed back into the underground bunker again, he was met with the sound of Auto's applause. "Someone give the guy an Oscar," he said.  
  
Roll sat at the computer kiosk, rubbing her eye. "That was something beautiful, Rock," she said.  
  
Blues kept a straight face, unenthusiastically patting his palms together slowly. "That was a good performance, Rock," he said, "but celebrations can wait. We've got another attack to plan." 


	10. Hydro

The ripped up photographs of the power plant soon joined the torn pictures of the ore mines in the middle of the table. "Nice work, Romeo," Said Auto teasingly as the four sat around the circular table.  
  
"I really shouldn't have said that," Rock muttered under his breath.  
  
"You're right, Rock," said Blues sternly, "You shouldn't have."  
  
"He was just playing along, Blues," said Roll in Rock's defense.  
  
"Roll, be quiet and listen," Blues swiftly ordered. "Rock, by giving that Virtuloid an attachment to you, she's more than likely going to be hanging around you and your targets more often, increasing the risk of her finding us out. From now on, you will only speak to her and any other Virtuloid as a means of defending the secrecy of us and our operations. Is that clear?"  
  
Rock hung his head. "Yeah," He murmured.  
  
"Good," said Blues, ignoring the stares he gathered from Roll and Auto. "Now for the next target. Rock, take your pick."  
  
Rock took what was left of the stack of photographs, and flipped through them again. "I don't know," Rock murmured, rubbing his chin. "I would like to take out the weather tower, but do you think Marie would be around there?"  
  
"Yes, I think so," said Blues. "If you want to avoid Marie for awhile, then I suggest you focus on the hydro-electric dam as your target today."  
  
Rock looked through the photographs again. "Yeah, I don't think Marie would like to hang around anything that noisy," said Rock, putting the pictures down again. "Auto, I'm attacking the dam next."  
  
"I'll get the machine ready," said Auto, quicky rising. Almost as soon as he turned, Auto stopped. "Oh, Rock, I'm almost finished that adapter I was talking about. You want to wait 'till I'm finished and take it with you?"  
  
"Out of the question, Auto," Blues said sharply before Rock could reply. "I want that gadget thoroughly tested before you install it on Rock. As for you, Rock, we can't afford to sit around and wait. And with that female Virtuloid thinking that you're her friend, she could be trying to track you down right now for all we know."  
  
"Blues," Roll said meekly, "I really don't think we're that desper-"  
  
"We've come too far to start taking unessecary risks, Roll," Said Blues quickly. "Auto, ready the teleport machine and start testing your device. Rock, you're leaving immediately." Blues stood up quickly, and walked past them towards the doorway. "Roll, man your station," said Blues, pausing in the doorway. "And Rock, good luck."  
  
When Blues had disappeared, Rock, Roll, and Auto were stunned silent. "What's gotten into him?" Auto asked.  
  
"I haven't seen him this on edge since," Roll paused, "Well, never."  
  
"I think I know what he's feeling," said Rock as he stood up. "I lost everything but my life, and if I'm going to destroy Masterframe and restart everything, I'm not going to make any more reckless mistakes."  
  
"Yeah, we have come too far to fail," Roll admitted as she stood up. "If we lose you, we can't just build another and start over so easily."  
  
"I'll finish my adapter as soon as I can, Rock," said Auto reassuringly, patting Rock on his shoulder. "Now let's get you to the dam."  
  
*******  
  
Rock found himself at the foot of a long bridge. A raging waterfall roared underneath, and a small doorway lay in the middle of the brigde, leading into the main building hovering just inches above the falls. "Hey Rock, you reaady to level this place?" Roll's voice aske him inside his helmet.  
  
"Sure am," said Rock, charging his arm cannon.  
  
"Good luck," said Roll.  
  
"I'll be needing it," said Rock. Charging down the brigde and into the doorway, Rock yelled, "Look out, Virtuloids! Here I come!"  
  
As soon as his feet crossed the threshold, Rock was greeted by hordes of mechanical monstorsities inside the brightly-lit dam. The roaring turbines of the dam muffled out the furious firing of his arm cannon, shooting down anything that darted his way. Keeping his legs moving, Rock ran full speed ahead, always firing and never looking back as he rushed through the dam.  
  
A jet-like drone sped past his face, whipping its wing across Rock's face. Rock yelped as he tumbled to the ground, skidding along the floor as the jet drone looped back towards him. Clamoring back to his feet, Rock began to charge his cannon, aiming the barrel at the speeding drone. Seconds before the drone sped into him again, Rock unleashed the energy in his arm cannon, shooting the drone down in a violent flash. Rock watched the drone nosedive into the floor and explode as he continued his mad rush into the dam.  
  
Running as fast as he could with a swarm of more flying drones chasing after him, the buzzing of turbines inreased as he neared a large doorway, and Rock felt like his eardrums would burst. Gritting his teeth as the noise loudened, Rock could barely keep his eyes open enough to see a gaping pit in the wide room in front of him. Sucking in a deep breath, Rock leapt off the edge of the pit, rushing forward with an amazing burst of speed. Millions of turbines lined the floor below, and had Rock not willed his feet to jump again, he would have fallen to a tearing death. The double jump was just enough for Rock to reach the wall on the other side, and as soon as Rock clamped his hands on the wall, he began to slowly slide down the smooth steel. Looking upward, Rock quickly noticed a series of rafters suspended all over the ceiling. Coiling his knees, Rock sprung off of the wall, nimbly catching the edge of the closest rafter. Springboarding from rafter to rafter, Rock steadily climbed up to the ceiling, and an open door was a welome sight to his eyes once he reached the top. Leaping through the threshold, Rock's relief quickly turned to depair as another heavy shutter slammed down as soon as his feet hit the floor, sealing him inside the short hallway, opposite to yet another shutter. "Great," Rock muttered, readying his arm cannon again as he ventured towards the shutter. As soon as he neared, the shutter flew open, revealing to him a giant tank of water, spanning the entire room, with nowhere else to go but down inside. Ready to fire at anything at any time, Rock stepped over the ledge and dropped into the tank below.  
  
The icy-cold water was a shock up Rock's spine, but he slowly began to adjust as the machines in his body quickly worked to warm him. Greatful that he no longer needed to breathe to survive, Rock let himself sink to the bottom of the giant tank, gently landing on his feet on the steel bottom. The echo of his feet hitting the floor bounced all around the water, and Rock opened his eyes. Rock was surprised to find that he could see just as well underwater as he could on dry land, and he readied his arm cannon. "Come on out, Virtuloid, wherever you are," Rock thought to himself as he slowly trudged along the bottom of the tank.  
  
Rock looked up, down, and all around, and yet no Virtuloids were to be seen. "I wish Roll could tell me where this guy is," Rock thought to himself.  
  
Suddenly, Rock heard a small whirr echo around the tank. Rock's eyes quickly focused on the middle of the floor, where a small hole had just opened up. And with a violent shake, the hole gaped open, sucking the water down. Rock struggled and kicked against the vicious current, powerless to stop himself from slowly being pulled towards the drain. Just as his feet were dangling by the edges, the drain suddenly shut closed, and everything was calm again. Looking up, Rock saw the surface of the water had dramatically fallen, and the lights overhead shone into the depths of the water much brighter than before.  
  
Just as Rock began to wonder if there was a Virtuloid in the area, a sudden splah from behind him made him sluggishly turn around. Two quick blasts of current pummeled into his chest, and Rock was sent gliding backwards in slow motion. His shoulders hit the edge of the tank, and Rock slowly slided down to the bottom. Struggling to stand in the water, Rock locked his eyes on the humanoid figure before him. "Let me guess," came a slithering voice into Rock's helmet, "you're the Blue Bomber."  
  
Rock was amazed. "How did he get his voice into my com system?" Rock wondered.  
  
"Audio transmittor override," the voice repled a Rock studied the short, stocky robot in front of him. "Able to intercept and reply to any form of electrical communication. A rare gift of mine."  
  
The Virtuloid began to kick his legs effortlessly, the large flippers on his feet gently propelling his green and blue clad body towards Rock. "And you're a Virtuloid, aren't you?" Rock thought back.  
  
"Hydro's the name," thought the Virtuloid, looking at Rock from behind a mask and goggles as he slowly advanced. "You've got a lot of nerve attacking my dam."  
  
"You've got a lot of nerve hunting down humans," Rock replied, charging his arm cannons.  
  
"You must be malfuctioning more than everyone says you are," thought Hydro. "Let me put you out of your misery."  
  
Rock grit his teeth, and aimed his cannon at Hydro. "Likewise."  
  
Bracing his knees, Rock let out a gigantic blast of energy from the barrel of his cannnon, shooting through the water at Hydro. Hydro nimbly twisted to his side, hardly slowed at all by the water, letting Rock's blast smash into the side of the tank. The steel walls buckled, yet held firm. As Rock charged his cannon again, it was only when Hydro angled himself like a torpedo at Rock that Rock noticed tow large cylinders attached to Hydro's back. And after a loud hummung filled the tank, Hydro shot forward. Rock was too surprised to fire, and Hydro rammed his head into Rock's chest, crushing Rock against the walls. Rock winced as Hydro shoved a small tube strapped on his wrist into Rock's face, with Hydro snickering quietly. "Pathetic," Hydro thought.  
  
Rock suddenly caught a grin. Willing his weapons to shift formats, Rock quickly held his hand to Hydro's face and thought, "Not so fast, pal."  
  
Hydro's eyes suddenly bugged out. "You wouldn't," Hydro thought.  
  
Rock grinned cruelly. "Really? Why wouldn't I?"  
  
"The shock would kill us both, fool!" Hydro retorted. "Or don't you know that water conducts electricity?"  
  
"I know," thought Rock, "But not if I'm out of the water."  
  
Rock's hand suddenly switched to his cannon, and he let out a quick blast into Hydro's face. Hydro yelped and screeched as he was knocked onto the floor, and Rock crouched low. Putting all of his stength into his legs, Rock leapt upwards, shooting with amazing height through the water. As soon as he broke past the surface, Rock re-formed his hand, switched weapon format again, and unleashed a violent jolt of lightning into the tank. Rock splashed back into the tank seconds later, relieved to find the electrical current gone.  
  
As soon as Rock hit the bottom again, he noticed Hydro shaking violently on one spot, trying to keep his balance. "Like that, Hydro?" Rock taunted, ready to spring back up to the surface again. Hydro was quick to overcome his shocked stiffness, and before Rock could crouch again, Hydro pointed at the drain cover and ordered, "Open!"  
  
The drain suddenly opened again, and Rock found himself being pulled towards the hole again. As Rock struggled to fight the raging current, Hydro simply kicked is legs in the water and let his propellers spin, keeping him above the drain as Rock was only inches away from the opening. "Have fun in the waste cooler," Hydro sneered as Rock's toes began to slip under.  
  
With nothing left to resort to, Rock willed his weapon format to switch again, and sprouted a giant drill from his cannon. And just as Rock was about to be sucked down the drain, he planted the drill into the side of the pipe.  
  
The tank suddenly shook, and a loud whine echoed all around. The drain covers quickly sealed shut, and Hydro was left with Rock again. "Open!" Hydro commanded again.  
  
When the drain did not open, Rock snickered and reverted back to his arm cannon. "Ready for more?" Rock taunted, firing two blasts into Hydro's chest.  
  
Hydro was sent gliding through the water again, hitting the side of the tank and gently floating to the bottom again. Just as Rock was about to leap above the surface again, Hydro aimed the small tube on his wrist at Rock again, and a short, violent burst of current blasted against his chest. Rock was sent sailing into the side of the tank again as Hydro swam back to his feet. Looking back at the drain as Rock slowly fell to the ground, Hydro ordered, "Open!"  
  
The drain creaked and whined, and the cover slid apart again. Rock barely found time to struggle against the current again as he tried to clear his head. "This time, you're going down the drain!" Hydro declared, watching Rock struggle to plant another drill from his cannon into the floor. The violent current tugged and pulled Rock, and Rock's anchoring was ripped in two in only a second. Rock struggled and fought with all of his might as Hydro continued to sneer and snicker, effortlesly keeping himself afloat. With his body rapidly tiring, Rock knew it would only be a matter of time before he lost his strength and was sucked down the pipes. "Come on," Hydro snarled in frustration, "just drain already!" Ready to cave in at any moment, Rock whirled himself around in a last-ditch effort, aimed his cannon, and shot another drill at Hydro.  
  
The tip of the drill clipped Hydro's side, and his left propeller cylinder suddenly sputtered out. Hydro yelped as he and Rock were sucked towards the drain, and just as the water level was completely drained, Hydro's thick body slurped into the drain, plugging it completely a Rock slid gently into him.  
  
"No fair!" Hydro whined aloud, struggling to pull himself out of the drain.  
  
"All's fair in love and war," Rock taunted, kneeling down behind Hydro and placing his hand on top of Hydro's head and shifting weapon formats. "Of course, you're not my type."  
  
With that, Rock let a jolting surge of eleectricity course through Hydro's body. As soon as Rock stopped hs electrifying assault, he felt his cannon begin to download Hydro's weapon system. As soon as his cannon stopped tingling, Rock stood up and eagerly switched formats. A large nozzle now pokedot of his cannon, and once Rock willed it to fire, a thick blast of water came shooting out with violent force. "Thanks, Hydro," said Rock. Raising is foot, Rock stomped on Hydro's head until he forced the stocky Virtuloid into the drain, and the tank immediately began to whine and violently quake. "Looks like I've jammed something important up," Rock said with a smile, holding his helmet close to his ear again. "Hey Roll! Mission complete!"  
  
"That was quick, Rock," came Roll's voice in his helmet as the sides of the tank began to split and scream.  
  
Within seconds, Rock was warped out of the collapsing tank and vanished. 


	11. Burn

It took Rock everything short of biting through his lip to stop himself from twitching. "Auto, are you almost finished?" Rock asked, looking down as his feet as he lay on his back on the operating table.  
  
"I'd have been finished ages ago if only you'd stop squirming your feet around," Said Auto testily, poking away at the insides of Rock's bare feet.  
  
"Sorry, I can't help it," said Rock apologetically.  
  
"Nevermind," said Auto, flicking his thin instrument into the sink as he grabbed some thread, "I'm finished now, anyway."  
  
As soon as Auto had finished stitching up Rock's feet, Rock gingerly stood up. "What did you put in me?" he asked, wiggling his toes.  
  
"It's a starshooter adapter," Auto replied, peeling off his bloodied gloves. "You know how you can double-jump in midair?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"When you have that starshooter active, you can triple-jump in the air."  
  
"Cool," said Rock, tapping his heels against his ankles.  
  
"Be careful using it, though," said Auto clearly, making sure Rock understood him. "I know it works, but I'm not sure how well."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"That extra jump," said Auto, "could propel you anywhere from two meters to fifty feet."  
  
"Fifty feet?" Rock gasped in astonishment.  
  
"Well, I don't know," said Auto sheepishly, "I can't test how far the starshooter will actually propel you on my own, you know. But if I'm right, it should give you at least ten meters of air."  
  
"Thanks, Auto," said Rock as he picked up his leg armor. Slipping into the sleek titanium alloy, Rock walked out of the room. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got an incineration bay to hose down."  
  
*********  
  
One flash later, Rock found himself standing in front of a small booth with a door, in the middle of a barren grassland. Quickly dodging behind a nearby tree, Rock held the side of his helmet closer to his ear and quietly whispered, "Roll, can you hear me?"  
  
"I hear ya' loud and clear, Rock," Roll replied.  
  
"I'm at the back entrance of the underground incineration plant. Can our frequency reach underneath?"  
  
"It might," said Roll, "It worked in the ore mines because there were tons of natural conductors in the ground, but it probably won't work here. Auto said he was working on another com system, but I don't know how long it's going to take him to build it."  
  
"Hopefully I can find some way of reaching you when I need to warp out," said Rock, readying his arm cannon. "Well, Roll, wish me luck. I'm going to shut this baby down."  
  
"Be careful, Rock," were Roll's last words before the connection between them fizzled out in Rock's ear.  
  
Rock dashed towards the doorway, swung it wide open, and dashed down the stairway. As soon as he crossed into the long hallways, a sudden wave of heat made him freeze. "This is the incinceration plant, all right," Rock muttered to himself, dashing down the hallways.  
  
The first room he came dashing into was nothing but a giant chasm with seemingly no end. Rock never had the chance to look down as he boldly leapt across, double-jumping in the air to let him land safely on the other side. The buzz of drones now filled the air, and Rock felt like hundereds of them would come challenge him at any moment. Another wide open pit neared him as he ran, and just before he was about to jump across, a swarm of drones suddenly flew up from inside the pit. Already with too much momentum to come to a stop, Rock leapt across the chasm again, planting his foot square on the back of the hovering robot as he springboarded off of it, landing on the other side of the pit again as he charged towards another shuttter.  
  
An alarm suddenly blared, filling the hallways with a ear-peircing screech. Gritting his teeth and bearing the painful noise, Rock quickly noticed that the ceiling in front of him was slowly starting to compress towards the floor, and the iron shutter was slowly rising. Sucking in a deep breath, Rock pushed himself forward with all the speed he could underneath the decending ceiling, and just as soon as the ceiling came to the top of his head, Rock threw himself on his side, sending his body skidding along the floor and slipping under the iron shutter just as the ceiling hit the floor. Taking a moment to collect his breath, Rock scrambled back to his feet before charging down the hallways again.  
  
It was not long before Rock found himself at the beginning of a long, narrow corridor with the floor lined by a conveyor belt, carrying bits and pieces of scrap metal. Not knowing any way else to go through the plant, Rock stepped onto the belt and ran along. A sudden blast of flamed from overhead made Rock send himself to the ground again. Looking up, Rock realized that the whole corridor was filled with nozzles on the walls and ceilings, blasting the scraps with flames and dropping into another pit at the other end. Not wanting to fight the conveyor by turning back, Rock made himself dash further down the belt, as blasts of flames and fire nipping at his heels. Leaping, sliding, and barely avoiding the scorching flames, the moment Rock came to the end of the conveyor belt, he saw yet anoher gaping chasm before him. With his mind already on autopilot, Rock leapt off the edge of the belt as the scorched scrap fell, planting his hands on the wall in front of him. Rock let himself slide down the wall as he listened to the peices of metal hit the bottom, echoing into a swelling boom. Spotting a balcony with a door on the wall, Rock let himself drop to the lege, blast the frail door open, and charge into another hallway.  
  
His path was soon cut off by yet another heavy shutter. Skidding to a halt, Rock turned to head back, when another shutter came crashing down in front of him, sealing him inside the hall. "Great," Rock muttered, looking at the first shutter. Bravely approaching the shutter, Rock tapped once on the heavy sheet of iron, and the shutter was immediately raised.  
  
The searing heat was even more intense behind the shutter as it slammed down behind Rock. Rock felt that he would be sweating by the buckets if his body still needed to perspire as he looked around the rusty-colored room he was now sealed inside, seeing nothing in it's perfectly cubed interior than a bare floor, walls, and a bare ceiling to match. Spotting a lone shutter on the other side of the room, Rock stepped one foot towards it.  
  
As soon as his foot touched the floor, the ground began to split and pull apart. Rock jumped back, flattening himself against the shutter as he watched the floor open up and slide into the walls, leaving him on just a small platform, with another in front of the shutter on the other side. Once the floors had completely seperated and vanished inisde the walls, Rock looked down into the chasm below, and his jaw dropped wide open. A sea of open flames roared beneath him in the pit below, and Rock felt the temperature sharply rise. Heat waves began to play tricks with his vison, making the room around him wave and swagger.  
  
"I see you've come to see our main incinerator," said a hissing voice.  
  
Rock looked up to see a tall, thin Virtuloid on the other platform, clad in bright red armor and weilding a flamethrower nozzle in place of his hand. "I guess that you're the famous Blue Bomber that everyone's been talking about."  
  
"The one and only," said Rock, readying his arm cannon.  
  
"Whoever destroys you is going to be rewarded hamsomely," said the Virtuloid, "and when I do, I'm going to be commander Burn, so thanks for being my stepping stone."  
  
"Don't get so full of yourself, Burn," said Rock, charging his arm cannon and aiming it at Burn's chest. "You're going to have to come and get me first!"  
  
For a second, Burn stood still as the barrel of Rock's fully charged cannon stared him down. Then, Burn took a step off of the plaform, and a small block suddenly appeared underneath his foot, keeping him aloft. With Burn in the middle of his cannon's sights, Rock unleashed a massive blast of energy at his enemy. Burn quickly raised his nozzle arm and let loose a flash of flames, and Rock's shot was quickly dissolved. Burn snickered as he hopped off of the block, leaping into the middle of the chasm and landing on another floating block, popping up from out of nowhere as the one behind it vanished. Burn kept his flamethrower going as he steadily advanced on Rock, hopping from vanishing cube to appearing cube. With nowhere else to go and with Burn coming closer with his flamethrower, Rock flattened himself against the shutter as Burn approached.  
  
Suddenly, Rock noticed that another cube had formed in front of his platform, and Burn was just about to mae the leap upon it. Hoping that he could jump high enough, Rock quickly bolted off of his feet, taking a wild leap off of the cube and vaulting himself over Burn's head as they crossed past each other. As Burn steadily landed on the platform where Rock once was, Rock found himself falling though the air and into the flaming pit below. Another cube suddenly popped up right in fron of his face, and Rock clung onto it with his life.  
  
"Having fun with the phasing blocks?" Burn taunted, watching Rock climb up onto the cube.  
  
Rock quickly leapt upwards, catching onto the ledge of the solid platform on the other side of the room. Pulling himself up, Rock growled silently as Burn snickered. "I've got it all memorized," Burn jeered, tapping the side of his helmet. "I'd love to see you try to reach me over here."  
  
It took all of Rock's willpower to stop himself from blidly charging towards Burn. "Why don't you come and get me?" Rock challenged, switching his weapon formats and producing a nozzle of his own from his cannon.  
  
"Happy to oblige," said Burn, waiting a few seconds before stepping onto another materializing block.  
  
Just as Burn hopped onto another cube, Rock aimed his cannon at Burn and let out a violent blast of water at him. Burn yelped just before the torrent of water smashed into his chest, knocking him off of the platform and into the pit below, vanishing into the flames.  
  
Rock breathed a sigh of relief. "That was easy," he said, turning towards the shutter.  
  
Before Rock could tap on the shutter to make it open, a speeding fireball shot up from the pit, landing on a new block in the middle of the chasm. "I see that you've met Hydro," Burn hissed angrily, his armor smoking and charred black.  
  
"Want another taste?" Rock snarled back, aiming his nozzle at Burn again.  
  
As soon as Burn fired a stream of flames at Rock, Rock let out another blast of water. The two streams hit, and a shrill hiss filled the air. Burn continued to jump from block to vanishing block, steadily advancing on Rock as their streams kept blocking each other out. Knowing that Burn would expect him to leap over his head again, Rock held his breath, hoped Auto was right, and dropped himself down from the platform, and plummeted into the firey pit below.  
  
"What is he doing?" Burn gasped, stunned at Rock's apparent suicide.  
  
Just before Rock's feet touched the tips of the flames below, he leapt in midair off of his double-jump, and with all the power he could muster, Rock willed the starshooters in his feet to activate. A violent burst of powr surged through Rock's legs, and before he knew it, he was sent flipping wildly upwards, spinning head below heels as he shot through the air, landing on his feet on the platform on the other side.  
  
"How did he-!" was all that Burn could manage to gasp as he whirled himself around in time to see Rock aiming his nozzle at him again. And without a word later, Rock unleashed another blast of current at Burn, knocking the Virtuloid off of the block and down into the flaming chasm below again. Thanking Auto over and over again in his head, Rock dropped down into the fiery pit once more, dousing the flames below him with his water cannon as he fell. Landing on a wiremesh grid from his extinguished spot, Rock watered down a path as he searched the flames for Burn. Once he found Burn's motionless body, completely blackened and beginning to crumble, Rock placed his hand on Burn's back, and a jolt of energy surged through his cannon. Feeling a new power inside of his arm cannon, Rock leapt up, double-jumped, and then sent himself skyrocketing upwards again, up on top of the opposite platform. Tapping on the shutter once, the heavy sheet of iron quickly lifted, allowing Rock to step through the doorway before crashing back down again.  
  
The sight of a lone radio desk in the small, barren room made Rock grin. Quickly darting towards the radio, Rock picked up the reciever, adjusted the tuning dial, and spoke. "Hey Roll! I told you I'd find a way to talk with you."  
  
"Good," said Roll with an odd tone  
  
Rock could tell that something was awry. "Roll, is there something wrong?"  
  
There was a short pause. "Maybe you'd better come here first," said Roll.  
  
Biting is lip, Rock wondered what could have possibly happened as a bright light enveloped him and he vanished into the air. 


	12. Chill

As soon as Rock stepped out of the teleporter, he noticed Roll at the side of the room. "Roll, what's happened?" Rock asked worriedly.  
  
"It's Blues," she said, "His morale is in pretty bad shape. While you were gone, we got a message from another group of survivors."  
  
Rock was confused. "Then why is he feeling bad?"  
  
"His wife wasn't with them."  
  
Rock was stunned. "His wife?" He asked in disbelief.  
  
"I know," said Roll, "He never told Auto or I he was married either. The first thing he asked them was if she was with them, and they said they had never seen anyone like her." Roll paused to stop herself from shedding a tear. "I could just hear his heart break."  
  
"I know the feeling," Rock muttered, the memory of Dawn flashing across his mind again. "Where is he now?"  
  
"He's in his quarters. Auto's trying to talk with him, but I doubt he's going to get anywhere," said Roll with pity.  
  
Suddenly, an idea came together in Rock's head. "Roll, can you still talk with that other band of survivors?"  
  
"Yeah," said Roll, "why?"  
  
"Nevermind why," Rock said quickly, walking past Roll and out of the room.  
  
Roll rolled her eyes. "What's with everyone today?" She muttered under her breath, following Rock out of the room.  
  
**********  
  
As soon as Rock sat down by the desk and had his headset on, Roll flicked the switch to the radio on, and a crackling noise filled Rock's ears. "Hello?" A voice asked from the other end.  
  
"Hi," said Rock, "You wouldn't know anyone in your group by the name of Dawn, would you?"  
  
Rock looked sideways to see the look of connfusion on Roll's face. "Dawn," The voice muttered. "No, there isn't a Dawn here."  
  
"Are you sure?" Rock asked. "She's got blonde hair, maybe five-foot-six, um," Rock paused to dig up his scattered memories, "green eyes, looks maybe, er, one hundred pounds. Have you seen her?"  
  
"Sorry, I haven't."  
  
Rock sagged. "Thanks anyway," He muttered before taking off his headset.  
  
"Dawn?" Roll asked as soon as Rock put down the headset, "Who's Dawn?"  
  
Rock sighed silently to himself. "An old friend of mine," he muttered.  
  
Roll pulled up a nearby chair and sat down beside Rock. "That's who Marie reminds you of, isn't she?"  
  
Rock nodded. "I wish I knew if she were still alive," he muttered.  
  
Roll put her hand on Rock's shoulder. "The most you can do is have faith," she said.  
  
"Or I can destroy Masterframe," said Rock. "Where's Auto? You said he was with Blues, right?"  
  
"Yeah," said Roll as Rock stood up, "Why?"  
  
"I'm going to take out another target."  
  
********  
  
Rock found himself at the heavy iron doors of the gigantic building within a flash. Quickly taking cover behind a small heap of discarded scrap metal, Rock held the side of his helmet close to his ear. "Roll, can you still hear me?"  
  
"Loud and clear, Rock."  
  
Rock peeked over the scrap heap at the building in front of him. "So this is the sub-zero storage hold," Rock muttered, looking at the giant doors.  
  
"This is it," said Roll. "Are you sure that attacking it without any warming device is a good idea?"  
  
"Don't worry about me, Roll," said Rock, looking at his arm cannon, "I've got some 'fire' power."  
  
Rock heard Roll groan. "Just be careful, all right?"  
  
"I'll try my best," said Rock, standing up. Locking his sights at the doors and charging his arm cannon, Rock said, "Time to paint this place red-hot!"  
  
Rock unleashed the massive charge of energy upon the doors, blowing them wide off their hinges. Rock wasted no time at all in dashing through the doors, firing his cannon at anything that moved across his path. The large, dim room was anything but cold, a fact that Rock noticed as soon as soon as he found himself leaping over all sorts of crates and boxes, demolishing every piece of machinery in his path. Spotting another shutter directly ahead of him, Rock willed his feet to give him a short burst forward, sending him speeding at the shutters. He came to a screeching halt, only inches away from the heavy shutter as it quickly slid upwards, letting Rock slip underneath.  
  
Rock was met with a bitter cold, and as soon as he turned around, the shutter slammed down once more, sealing him inside. Quickly wrapping his arms around him, Rock wished he was back in the incineration plant as he looked at the room around him.  
  
Icicles dangled from the wide vent tubes that ran along the high ceiling, and frost covered the walls and floors. Hundreds of boxes, containers, and crates lined the walls, blanketed in a sheet of ice. As soon as Rock took a step forward, he slipped on the icy floor, narrowly managing to keep on his feet. Seeing nothing but a straight path ahead of him, Rock grit his teeth in the face of the bitter cold and pushed himself forward, gliding on the icy floors.  
  
The instant he crossed the threshold to a long corridor, Rock heard the familiar buzz of airborne drones swarming from behind him. Gaining as much speed as he could on the slick floor, Rock quickly spun around, sliding backwards on his heels as he let loose a furious storm of cannon fire at the swarm behind him. The small, bat-like robots that chased after him were shot down in flames, crashing to the ground as more and more of them rushed in on Rock. Rock kept his arm cannon blasting away, shooting down messes of the drones as their number steadily grew, quickly gaining ground on Rock. Rock steadily began losing momentum, and bit by bit, Rock found himself quickly slowing down. Just as Rock spun himself around to gain more velocity, a large crate that blocked his path caught him unable to stop, sending Rock crashing into and spilling over the crate and onto the floor on his face. As Rock still skidded along the icy floor, he tossed himself over onto his back, locking hs eyes on the quickly approaching swarm of drones, and let his cannon run wild. Suddenly, a flash of metal zoomed past his eyes, and a heavy crash filled the air. Rock lifted his head to find himself skidding away from a closed shutter, with the sounds of hundreds of drones smashing into it on the other side. Rock snickered cruelly to himself, still skidding along on his back in the oddly quiet room.  
  
Suddenly, Rock slid headfirst into something tall and sturdy, halting him immediately with a jolt down hs spine. Rock looked up, and saw the face of a stocky, blue-armored robot staring back down at him. "Slipping in for a visit, are we?" The Virtuloid asked with a hissing voice.  
  
Rock scrambled back to his feet, and almost fell down again. The blue Virtuloid snickered quietly, watching Rock try to keep his footing on the sleek ice. "So I suppose you're the dreaded Blue Bomber," he said as Rock finally found his balance.  
  
"And you're Chill, aren't you?" Rock guessed.  
  
"Bravo," said the Virtuloid, "How'd you know?"  
  
Rock rolled his eyes. "Ground ran an ore mine, Lightning ran a power plant, Hydro ran a waterfall dam; I've got you guys all figured out."  
  
"Strong and clever," said Chill, "Shame that I've got to destroy you."  
  
Rock's footing slipped again, nimbly able to keep himself standing. "Bring it on."  
  
Chill suddenly bolted off his feet, gliding above the icy surface at Rock with full speed ahead, planting his shoulder into Rock's chest. Rock was sent spinning on the ice, struggling to keep himself standing as Chill came to a sharp halt on the other side of the room, quickly spinning around to aim the cannon-like adaptation on his arm at Rock. With a flash, a short, wide sheet of ice sprouted out of Chill's arm, sharp and pointy like a small sword. Chill locked his eyes on the sprawling Rock, waiting for him to regain his footing. As soon as Rock managed to stand steady on the ice, Chill bolted forward again, whipping his shoulder across his chest at Rock, slashing his icy sword into Rock's left shoulder. Rock yelped as he fell to the floor, grabbing his wounded shoulder as Chill came to another smooth stop. Chill quietly chuckled as he watched Rock slowly climb back up to his feet, clutching his aching arm. Rock gasped when he saw frost begin to gather around the gash, feeling a freezing numbness begin to slowly spread through his arm. Before Rock knew it, Chill had charged at him again, swiftly dragging his blade across Rock's chest. Rock weezed and collapsed to the floor again, immediately feeling a stinging cold seep into his body. "If you think that hurts now," Chill laughed, "In a few minutes you won't feel a thing."  
  
Rock winced and hunched over onto his knees, gritting his teeth to bear the numbing cold spreading through his body. Just as Chill wound back his arm to slash at Rock again, Rock lashed his arm cannon out at Chill, unleashing a massive blast of flames. Chill nimbly weaved to his right, almost avoiding the firey assault. The flames licked Chill's left arm, leaving a scorched streak on his armor. Chill winced and cradled his wound, with Rock finding an ounce of warmth from his cannon's flamethrower. Rock quickly clambered back to his feet again, and unleashed another massive stream of flames at Chill again. Bearing the stinging in his arm, Chill dove to his side, letting Rock's flamethrower blast into the icy walls, scorching them totally black as Rock's flamethrower chased Chill around the room. As Rock kept pumping out the stream of fire after Chill, he felt his frosty, frozen wounds begin to slightly warm, once again feeling movement in his left arm.  
  
Suddenly, his cannon coughed and sputtered, and the massive torrent of flames suddenly shut off. Rock breathed tiredly, feeling the energy from his flamethrower completely deplete. Chill came to a screeching halt, quickly looking around the charred room. Without another word, Chill charged at the defenseless Rock again, slashing his icy blade wildly. Rock quickly floored himself, narrowly avoiding Chill's slash. It was only when Chill sharply pivoted on his heel again that Rock noticed the two small vents on Chill's chest, and a gentle breeze was slowly being sucked inside. And with a sudden yell, Chill's vents blew out a vicious gale, blowing Rock clean off of his feet, pinning him against the wall with the violent, bitterly cold current. Rock tried to move his limbs, but the fierce wind kept them anchored to the wall, his armor steadily frosting over. Chill slowly advanced on him, keeping the vicious wind blasting upon him as ice began to form around Rock's body, freezing him to the wall. As soon as Rock's whole body was covered in a thin sheet of ice, Chill quietly laughed. "Let's see how long you last," Chill snickered, willing his chest vents to close.  
  
Rock struggled in vain to power himself out of the icy casket, but the thick icy casing kept him firmly in place. Rock's wounds began to freeze much more quickly, stabbing him with a freezing pain as it spread through him again. As his insides froze and his vison hazed, Rock willed his cannon to give even just a spurt of flames. Nothing came, and Rock continued to freeze against the wall. Rock held what was left of his breath, and forced his body to shoot his flamethrower. A slight tremble shook within the casing, and Chill was suddenly stunned. Pushing himself to go further, Rock mentally screamed at himself to fire his flamethrower, and he immediately felt his armor begin to heat. A sharp crack echoed all over the room, quickly followed by many more. Chill hastily opened his vents again, blasting more icy chills upon Rock's casing. Even with Chill's wind vents blasting as savagely as he could get them to go, Rock's icy prison suddenly shattered into millions of tiny pieces, falling to slush upon the ground. Rock aimed his flamethrower at Chill before his feet even hit the ground, unleashing a blast of flames at Chill again. As soon as Chill dove out of the way, Rock willed his weapon formats to switch, and quickly shot forth a blast of water at Chill's feet. The water froze upon contact with Chill's armor, fusing Chill and his legs to the floor. Chill struggled and fought to break himself free, but another fierce blast of water from Rock's cannon coated his body, freezing him solid. "Thanks for the idea," said Rock, knowing that Chill was glaring angrily back at him. Placing his cannon to the side of Chill's frozen head, Rock willed his flamethrower to activate again, and a short blast of flames quickly charred Chill's head black. Rock planted his hand on Chill's blackened shoulders, feeling his system immediately download Chill's weapon program.  
  
"Get ready to warp me out soon, Roll," said Rock, holding the side of his helmet to his ear, "I'm gonna' give this place one hot remodelling." 


	13. Storm

Auto had just finished stitching up Rock's knees when Rock finally looked down at the stitches. "So, what's this you've put in me?" Rock asked.  
  
"Those," said Auto, tossing his surgical tools into the sink behind him, "are manual-charge speed boosters."  
  
"Manual-charge speed boosters?" Rock asked, sitting up on the operating table, "what're those?"  
  
"Those microchips I've put in your knees," said Auto, following Rock's stare on his stitches, "they collect electrical charge put out by your knee muscles when you move them," he said. "And because I redesigned your nervous system to send complex information back and forth from the brain, once those chargers have collected enough energy, you can release it on will when doing your air dash, and that'll propell you forward at a very high speed."  
  
"You've got too much time on your hands," Rock muttered.  
  
"Hey, a genious has gotta' keep himself busy."  
  
Rock looked back at his knees. "Any catches?"  
  
"A few, yes," Auto murmured. "For one, the chargers lose colelcted energy quickly, so if you want to build up enough power for the boosters to work, your best chance at doing that is running in a straight line without stopping."  
  
"And?"  
  
"And second, you can't use the speed boost, starshooter, or any of the Virtuliod weapons you've picked up twice at a time. Your nervous system would collapse with that amount of stress.  
  
"So you're saying I can't use my weapons when I've got the booster?"  
  
"I can't remove your weapons system, that's embedded into your internal programming now. Just don't use both at the same time, okay?"  
  
Rock nodded. "Anything else?"  
  
"I've already taken the liberty to disable the starshooter jump to install the speed boosters. I can't let you go with both of those active, either. It's either one or the other, Rock."  
  
Rock thought for a while. "I think I'll stick with the boosters," he said at length, "just to try them out."  
  
"You're the boss," Auto hummed, handing Rock his helmet from the counter beside the operating table. "Ready to go out again?"  
  
Rock swung his feet over the side of the table, and dropped onto the floor. "Only one more target to go, may as well take it out now."  
  
Rock appeared with a flash in the middle of the dense forest, quickly hiding behind a tree as he looked at the giant, looming towers in the wide clearing before him. "So, that's the weather monitoring station, huh?" Rock asked.  
  
"That's it, Rock," came Roll's voice in his helmet. "The best way to destroy all the towers is to find the main power silo in one of them and destroy it."  
  
"No doubt there's another Virtuloid guarding it," Rock muttered. Morphing his hand into a cannon barrel again, Rock charged his cannon and said, "Sit tight, Roll. This may take a while."  
  
A shattering blast of plasma energy blew a wide hole into the side of the tower, with Rock leaping inside seconds later. The first and only thing that met Rock's eyes was a tall, spiralling stairway, which he wasted no time in running up when the familiar hum of flying drones filled the air. Out of the corner of his eye, Rock spotted the first pack of cloud-like drones hovering down the stairs towards him. Letting his cannon blast wildly, Rock managed to shoot down three of the floating clouds before the rest of the pack shot forth an array of electrical sparks, making Rock dance on the spot as he weaved in and out of the hailstorm of tiny lightnng bolts. Sucking in a deep breath, Rock dove underneath the drones and further up the stairs, clumsily rolling back up to his feet behind them. Charging up his arm cannon again, Rock unleashed a dazzling blast of energy loose at the cloud drones, scorching whatever drones it did not incinerate. The remaining five drones shot more electric sparks at him, forcing him to skip backwards up the stairs as he unleashed the fury of his cannon, firing and firing so feverishly that it made his vison spin. With another giant charged blast, the last of the drones finally fell, and Rock was suddenly aware of the sun shining upon him. He had already reached the top of the long and winding staircase, perched atop a small open-air lookout with a small metal-beam bridge connecting the one tower to another. Taking a good look around, Rock found there were only three of the gothic towers, and concluded that the main silo must be in either of the other two. After another quick lookout for more drones, Rock ventured off of the lookout, and stepped foot onto the first step of the bridge. A whining creak from beneath him sent a shiver up Rock's spine. Rock placed his other foot as gingerly as he could on the other step, finding it to be as sturdy as he could have hoped. Step after careful step, Rock made it four steps across the bridge when his fears subsided.  
  
Suddenly, the first step of the bridge cracked, folded, and plummeted to the ground below. The second step followed suit, as did the third, and the fourth began to fracture underneath his feet. With a panicked yelp, Rock made the decison to dash quickly across the bridge to the other side as the bridge creaked and yawned, beginning to slowly tip down. Rock's wide strides quickly became giant leaps as the bridge frowned, despearte to plant his foot onto the cracking steps before they broke apart. Just as Rock was only a few meters away from the other tower, the bridge suddenly lurched downward, swinging towards the side of the tower. Rock grabbed the first step that met his eyes, hanging on for dear life as the bridge slammed into the tower, almost shaking loose Rock's grip on the steps. Rock struggled to pull himself up, trying to carry his heavy armor as well. Just as the step snapped, Rock's hand shot up to grasp the one above, saving himself from a long fall. Rock's mind was awhirr with solutions, one thought being that, should he fall, he could always use his water cannon power cushion his landing. A glance down at the ground far below made what remained of his stomach knot, and he quickly dismissed the idea just as the step he clung to began to crack. He could not use his ice power, that would only make the steps shatter underneath his weight. Nor could he use the flamefthrower to weld the steps together again, the intense heat would surley burn his hands. Rock struggled to put his hands on the step above when the step he held on to suddenly gave away, forcing him to pick any of his weapons at random. Ground's drill suddely protruded from his cannon, which Rock quickly sunk deep into the wall. The bridge above moaned and creaked loudly, and with a series of snaps, it plummeted down beside him. Rock gave a quiet sigh of relief as he grabbed onto the drill lodged into the wall, planting another drill just above him as he climbed to the top of the tower. Rock pulled himself up and over the edge, looking at the one door in the middle of the tower's roof, likely leading down to the base. Hoping he would find the main reactor down below, Rock hastily shot the door off of its hinges, and stepped into the pitch-black darkness.  
  
As soon as the darkness had engulfed him, Rock felt the floor suddenly pull away out from underneath him. It was a thankfully short fall, letting Rock land comfortably on his feet. Everything around him was so pitch-black that Rock could not even see the tip of his nose. He could hear a machine's gears grinding and moving around him, sending a nervous shiver through his body. Rock coiled his knees and readied his arm cannon, preparing himself for the worst.  
  
A sudden flash of light shot down at his feet, making Rock bolt to his side as a crack of thunder boomed around the room. A vicious gale of wind suddenly blasted upon him, feeling a heavy patter of rain storm around the room. Rock dodged another crack of lightning, with the brief flash illuminating the room long enough for Rock to catch a glimpse of a bright red square on the wall before everything went dark again. Switching his weapons system to Ground's drills again, Rock made a mental visual note to himself, keeping his mind focused on that one spot amidst the darkness. The wind intensified, beginning to blow Rock around the room. As another blast of lightning flashed only inches from his face, Rock aimed his cannon at the square on the wall, and shot out a drill. Ground's drill made a sharp cracking sound, and the room fell silent again. More lightning bolts zapped around his feet, with Rock narrowly managing to weave his body around them. Another flash of lightning revealed to Rock another bright red square on the wall. Rock quickly fired off another drill, plunging it deep into the square before the darkness reigned again. A blast of lightning struck his foot suddenly, sending Rock spilling to the floor with a yelp. Another bright red square on the wall caught the corner of his eye from the flash, and just before another bolt could strike him in the back, Rock shot out his arm cannon and fired another drill into the darkness.  
  
The room suddenly began to tremble, and the ceiling lights slowly lit up. The wind and rain stopped, and Rock was thankful to have a firm footing again. A tall, hulking piece of machinery built into the wall fell over and collapsed at his feet, revealing a passage to the outside. Rock stepped over the fallen machine and onto the outside, only to find another bridge leading to the last tower. "That must be where the core is," Rock muttered to himself, dashing over the bridge. Just like the other bridge, the metal steps cracked and fell as soon as Rock stepped on them, yet Rock was always a step ahead of the crumbling stairway.  
  
The sudden familiar hum filled the air before Rock could make it a quarter of the way across the collapsing bridge, and another swarm of cloud-like drones spilled out of the top of the last tower, descending on Rock like a violent stormcloud. As Rock dashed along the creaky bridge, he aimed him cannon upwards and fired shot after shot of plasma energy into the massive fog of drones, only managing to shoot down two or three at a time as the cloud drones quickly came upon him. Realizing he would be quickly engulfed by the pesky drones on a collapsing bridge, Rock charged his cannon, and made it halfway across before the swarm surrounded him. Rock unleashed his charged blast, blowing a hole in the middle of the legions. Tiny electric sparks zapped his sides with every four or five drones he shot down around him, making it a chore to ensure his footing on the falling bridge. And just as the bridge began to creak and tip downward, Rock let a fully charged blast into the swarm again, leaping through the hole in the swarm it created, double-jumping in the air to land safely on the other tower. Without thinking, Rock switched to Lightning's weapon, and unleashed a loud crack of lightning upon the chasing drones behind him. Whatever the lightning bolt did not destroy, it sent the rest of the cloud drones into a short-circuited frenzy, driving them mindlessly into the side of the tower above Rock's head. The drones plowed through the tower and out of the other side, slowly diving to the ground as Rock watched them crash into the forest below. Using Ground's drill weapon as stepping stones in the side of the tower again, Rock climbed up into the hole the drones had created, and slipped inside of the dark interior of the tower. The lack of a floor made Rock flatten himself against the wall, letting his wall-clinging system allow himself to slowy slide down along the wall, hoping not to run into another storm-generating machine.  
  
As soon as a floor met his feet, the sound of another iron shutter pulled out from underneath him, dropping him into the well-lit chamber below. Landing on his feet, the first thing that met his eyes was a slim humanoid figure, flexing a pair of metal wings on its back. "So, you're the blue bomber everyone's talking about?" he asked Rock, still flexing his wings.  
  
Rock immediately aimed his cannon at the Virtuloid in front of him. "That's me," he said. "And you are, let me guess, Wind."  
  
"Storm," replied the Virtuloid, arching his wings.  
  
Rock sighed inwardly to himself. "Close enough," he muttered under his breath. "But what really matters is that you and these towers have got to go."  
  
Storm spread his wings, and gently rose up into the air with slow flaps of his broad wings. "Let's see you try, groundling," Storm taunted, aiming an arm cannon at Rock from the air, "Eat this!"  
  
With that, a violent blast of wind shot from Storm's arm cannon, blasting upon Rock so fiercely that it knocked him down onto the floor. As soon as Rock stumbled back to his feet, Storm swooped down, ramming his helmet into Rock's nose, flooring him again as Storm ascended to the other side of the chamber again. Rock tumbled head over heels to adeptly roll over onto his feet, whirling around to fire a flurry of cannon shots at the airborne Virtuloid. Storm simply folded his wings around himself, with Rock's plasma blasts bouncing off the armor plates like pebbles. Storm laughed mockingly as Rock began to break a weary sweat. "Giving up already?" Storm jeered, unfolding his wings.  
  
Rock willed his weapons system to switch to Ground's drills, aimed his cannon at Storm again, and said, "Try laughing at these."  
  
Rock willed to fire, but nothing came out. A smirky grin ran across Storm's face. "Is that all?"  
  
Rock tried to fire again, and still no response. Rock switched back to Lightning's electricity, and let loose a massive crack of electricity at Storm. Storm quickly wrapped his wings around him again as soon as the thunder from Rock's cannon roared, feeling the blast of the lightning bolt smash upon his armor plates, the bolt dissipating upon contact. "Shit!" Rock snarled under his breath, beginning to feel frustrated.  
  
Storm landed on the ground again, flexing his shaking, stiff wings, much more annoyed than injured. "Fighting me with those pathetic weapons won't get you anywhere," Storm sneered, aiming his arm cannon at Rock again. Knowing that Storm was ready to unleash another wind blast, Rock put as much charge in his cannon as quickly as he could before he fired it at Storm's chest. Storm's left wing quickly flapped over his body, deflecting Rock's shot with ease. "Have a nice trip."  
  
With that, Storm's arm cannon let another dizzying gale loose, bowling Rock backwards and slamming him against the chamber wall. And with a short hop into the air, Storm spread his wings and dove at Rock, ready to crush Rock between himself and the wall. Rock's scrambled vison snapped clear in time to see Storm speeding towards him, and without any other idea in mind, Rock switched his weapons system to the one weapon he had not used yet.  
  
The thick blade of jagged ice sprouted from Rock's arm cannon swiftly enough for Rock to springboard off the wall, and meet the charging Storm with a quick slash. Rock landed quietly on his feet, hearing Storm crash into the wall with a clumsy thump. As Storm began to moan, Rock looked back at his enemy to see a wide gash in his shoulder, a thin crust of ice beginning to frost over it. "Hey Storm!" Rock jeered, "I think I've just found your weakness!"  
  
Storm sneered angrily under his breath, stretching his wings and flying back up to the ceiling. "You can't slash at what you can't touch," Storm retorted, aiming his cannon at Rock again, unleashing another blast of wind upon Rock. Rock quickly jammed Chill's sword into the floor, anchoring himself in place as the short gale roared past him. And as soon as Rock caught the blank stare of shock on Storm's face, Rock leapt up, double-jumped in the air, winding back his shoulder and taking a vicious swing at Storm's right wing. The ice blade tore through and iced over the middle of his wing, quickly becoming more and more immobile. Storm yelped and lurched to the ground, struggling to keep himself aloft as Rock landed below. Knowing he had the advantage, Rock leapt at the wall, rebounded himself upwards, and took another slash at Storm's left wing. This was enough to freeze Storm's wings entirely, sending Storm crashing to the floor.  
  
As Rock landed, he swivelled himself around and took an agressive charge straight for Storm, winding back his shoulder for another icy slash. Rock had forgotten about Storm's wind blasts, something he remembered the instant that Storm quickly shot out his arm cannon and unleashed another violent gale upon him. Rock was floored clumsily onto his back, skidding along the floor as Storm dragged himself back to his feet. When Rock had picked himself up, he realized that Storm could still spread his wings enough to send his body gliding into his chest, crushing Rock against the wall. Rock gagged and weezed, gasping for air as Storm stepped back, letting Rock drop the the floor. "This one's going for your head," Storm snarled, jabbing the barrel of his cannon into Rock's cheek, pinning Rock's head against the wall. Barely finding the strength to weild up his arms, Rock squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the end.  
  
A second went by, and nothing happened.  
  
Storm quickly glanced at his shoulder, and his jaw dropped once he saw the icy frost had spread from his wing and ran along his arm, seeping into his cannon. He was aware of the sudden chill that tickled his insides, and he shook his arm cannon feverishly, trying to break the ice inside apart. Sucking up whatever little wind he had left in him, Rock wobbled to one knee, and sprung forward at Storm, thrusting his ice blade straight for Storm's chest. The icy sword plunged through Storm's body, sticking out from his back as a thin layer of frost began to cover his body. "Cheater," Storm whined weakly as he began to ice over.  
  
"Loser," Rock sneered back as Storm's frozen body became still. Placing his hand on Storm's forehead, Rock felt his arm tingle with the weapons download, tickling the nerves on his toes and fingertips. When the tingle subsided, Rock disengaged Chill's blade from his system, snapping off the base of the blade from his cannon with a quick jerk from his arm. "Hey Roll," Rock said into his helmet, "There's going to be some fireworks tonight." 


	14. Yellow

As soon as Rock appeared back into the shelter, he was immediately greeted with Roll's smiling face. "Rock, you're... you're incredible!" She gushed.

If Rock's heartbeat could go over a single beat per minute, he would have blushed. "Thanks, Roll," he said sheepishly, stepping out of the coffin-like teleporter machine and taking off his helmet. Roll immediately threw her arms around Rock's shoulders, completely ignoring the stench from Rock's sweat-matted hair. Rock kept his hands off Roll, immediately remembering Dawn and feeling compelling sense of faithfulness. "Where's Blues?" Rock asked. "He knows that I've taken out all six targets, right?"

Roll released him, and kept smiling. "He does," she said, "and he's waiting for you in the briefing room."

----------------------

Blues' usual solemn face was now hard as a stone. He kept looking at Rock as he spoke in a commanding tone so forceful and stern that, for a moment, Rock thought he was a completely different person. "And now that you've dismantled their main operations," Blues continued on with his briefing, "Now's the best chance we have to take the fight to Masterframe itself, and end this whole ordeal for good." Auto rubbed his hands together in eager anticipation. Roll rested her head in her hand on the table, wearing a dreamy, watery smile, staring into space. Although Blues was fully aware of their lack of participation, he did not let himself care, focusing all his attention on Rock. "Now let me make this clear, Rock," Blues ordered, "there will be no allowances for careless mistakes or failures from this point on. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Rock murmured.

"Good. We already know the location of the Virtuloid HQ, and that's where we're sending you. Just like your last missons, we need you to level the place completely. But there's a catch."

"What?" Rock asked.

"We don't know exactly where Masterframe is located. If there's any information that can tell us where it is, it will be in the Virtuloid base. That's why we're sending you there in three sub-missons."

"Sub-missons? Like what?"

"Your first objective is to find and destroy their teleporation matrix systems. That way, all Virtuloids will no longer be able to teleport to or from Virtuloid HQ. Your second misson will be to find, interrogate, and destroy only if necessary, this Alpha character. Based on those conversations you've had with Marie, whoever this Alpha is, he must be a very important figure to the Virtuloids. With the matrixes destroyed and Alpha dealt with, you should have no problem in destroying the base, but not before you collect the information on Masterframe's whereabouts. That is your third misson. Any questions?"

"None," said Rock. "So, I guess I'm going on misson number one right away?"

Blues nodded. "Godspeed, Rock."

Rock appeared with a flash in a tight, dark alley. Taking a quick peek out into the streets, Rock's eyes bugged when he saw the ruination around him. What used to be towering buildings and endless streets were now heaps of rubble lying on a wasteland. Wreckage and scrap was strewn about as far as he could see, chilling him to the bone. Pulling himself back into the shadows of the alley, Rock pressed the side of his helmet closer to his ear and whispered, "Roll, is this what's happened to the whole planet?"

"As far as we know, yes," Roll replied. "Directly north of you is Virtuloid HQ, and up at the peak of the tallest tower is the teleportation matrixes. Can you see it from where you are?"

Rock peeked out from around the corner of the alley, laying eyes on the gigantic spires of a heavily fortified stronghold, not even ten meters away. "Yeah, I see it," said Rock, hiding in the alley again.

"You'll need to find your own way up there," said Roll, "and you'd better do it quick. This is the only time of day when most if not all Virtuloids are away hunting, so this is the best chance of leveling the place we'll ever get."

"Got it," said Rock, morphing his hand into a cannon and stepping out of the alley, "here I go."

"Go where?"

The voice from behind him nearly made Rock jump out of his skin. Quickly whirling around, Rock's arm formed into a cannon, aiming it in the face of the Virtuloid behind him. "Marie?" Rock stammered, watching Marie yelp with surprise.

Rock lowered his cannon, and let it fall to his side. "Sorry," Marie wheezed, trying to calm herself down, "did I startle you?"

"Yeah, a bit," Rock muttered, forming his hand again. "Are you heading back to HQ too?"

Marie shrugged. "May as well," she said, "Everyone else is looking for the blue bomber."

Shit, Rock thought to himself, Now I might wind up killing her too.

"Marie, why aren't you out there helping too?" Rock asked. "That is part of your duty, isn't it?"

"Just taking a short break to recharge little," said Marie, "My power reserves are running a little low."

Rock breathed a sigh of relief. "Shall we go together?" He asked playfully, hooking his arm towards Marie.

Marie laughed, and pushed Rock's arm straight again. "We're still on duty, you clown," she said with a smile, walking to the giant gates of the stronghold with Rock close behind.

Rock's own smile soon turned to a jaw dropped from dismay, upon seeing a tall archway in the middle of the gates, complete with sensory modules, cameras, and various detectors of all sorts lining the threshold. Rock stared at the ground, ready to morph his hand into his cannon and let the carnage begin at any moment. Marie stepped underneath the arch, passing without hindrance. Rock set a steady foot through the threshold, clenched his fist, and moved the rest of him through.

Nothing happened. Rock stopped, halting Marie in her tracks. "Why'd you stop?" She asked innocently.

Rock looked around the courtyard, eventually spotting a slender Virtuloid leaned up against the wall beside him, reading a book of some sort. The Virtuloid looked up from the pages, gave Rock a little nod hello, and went back to reading. "Wasn't sure what that thing was for," Rock muttered quietly under his breath, catching up to Marie.

"The carbon-dioxide detectors?" Marie snorted, "we've got those all over the HQ."

Before Rock could reply, he suddenly remembered that breathing converted oxygen into carbon-dioxide. And he was also reminded that he no longer needed to breathe. "Yeah, I knew that," Rock murmured sheepishly, "I haven't been here in ages."

"But you took Lightning back here, right?"

"I- I handed him off to someone else on the way," said Rock quickly. Then, he added, "I wanted to see if I could still catch the blue bomber."

"Oh," Marie shrugged. Rock and Marie stepped through the doors of the towering stronghold, and into the sprawling lobby inside. Rock had never seen such gothic beauty in his life, even if the tiles on the floor and stucco walls and ceilings looked a little odd. "Well anyway," said Marie, heading towards one of the many doorways in the lobby, "it was nice to see you again," she said.

As soon as Marie vanished down one of the many corridors, Rock morphed his hand into his cannon, clenched his teeth, and muttered, "And I hope I don't see you in here again, either." With that, he charged his cannon with as much power as he could, and dashed down the first hallway that caught his eye.

As Rock ran down the winding corridors, he could hear the hum of approaching patrol drones come his way. Not feeling like standing around to attract attention, Rock kept on charging through the hall, powering up his arm cannon. At the first sight of the floating drones, Rock unleashed the pent-up energy, plowing a hole through the approaching swarm. As more and more flocked in from all sides, Rock decided to try out his newest weapon. Switching weapons format, Rock activated Storm's weapon drive. Aiming his cannon at the thick fog of buzzing drones speeding towards him, Rock fired his cannon, letting loose a mighty blast of wind. The violent gale blew the drones and swept them back, sending them colliding into the walls, ceiling, floor, and even each other. Blast after blast of windstorms, Rock had completely cleared the hallways of the flying robots, also leaving the corridor in a mess as well.

At the end of the hall was an elevator, which Rock entered by shooting the door apart. Before he could press any button, the elevator car moved upwards on its own, and after a minute of steady ascent, the car came to a halt, and the doors before him opened. The sight of a gigantic, open room was the first thing that met him, with a brightly glowing light source sitting atop a group of pilliars. Soon, another swarm of airborne drones swooped down upon him from the ceiling. Leaping out of the elevator car, Rock kept his weapon set on Storm's wind blasts, shooting gusts and gales left and right around him. From electric bursts to energy blasts, the drones were relentless in their attacks, chasing Rock around the circular room in one giant swarm. Knowing he would be running forever, Rock abruptly turned on his heel, leapt into the middle of the swarm, switched to Chill's ice sword, and slashed away wildly into the heart of his aggressors. Landing roughly on the other side, Rock switched weapons format again, and let Burn's flamethrower lick the rest of the drones with flames. The room finally fell silent, and Rock immediately focused his attention on the bright light in the middle of the room. "Roll, there's a bright light on some kind of set of columns here," He said, "Is this the matrix?"

"That's it, Rock," Roll cheered, "destroy it!"

"No need to state the obvious," Rock smirked, switching back to his normal cannon and cahrging it up to full power. Once his cannon could hold no more enrgy, Rock unleashed it all with a roar upon the brightness. With a piercing whine and a shattering boom that floored Rock, the room suddenly fell dark, lit only by small, dim lights lining the ceiling. "Done," said Rock, "Now how do I get out of here?"

"Sorry, I don't have any data on their HQ," said Roll, "You'll have to find your own way out."

Rock looked around the dim room, and found what looked to be another one of the heavy metal shutters. Walking towards it, the shutter opened when he neared, and Rock quickly crossed under before it came rushing down again. On the other side, Rock stood stunned, amazed at what he saw before him.

The gaping pit before him seemed to have no end. Taking a peek below, Rock saw that the bottom of the chasm was lined with hundreds of thousands of large, sharp spikes, each looking a deadly as they did painful. A droning hum filled the air, and Rock noticed a block hovering in front of his face, floating right above the pit. Almost as suddenly as it appeared, the block vanished, and another appeared behind it. That soon vanished and another tok its place. "I get it," Rock murmured aloud to himself, "It's like the blocks from the incineraion plant." Rock waited for the first block to reappear, and leapt upon it as soon as it did. Rock took a leap forward, landing on the next block as it materialized. Hopping from block to vanishing block. Rock took a guess and leapt forward, and as he began to fall, he realized he made a mistake.

Rock double-jumped upwards, lucky to land on another block. Before he could jump off again, that block vanished too, leaving Rock scrambling to leap in mid-air onto another block. As soon as he landed, Rock leapt forward on impulse, hearing the sound of a block forming on the other side. Air-jumping backwards, Rock landed on the block just before it disappeared, managing to bolt off it and land on another. A string of blocks appeared before him, forming a crude bridge, stretching towards the other side of the pit. Taking his cahnces, Rock leapt onto the first block, and dashed across the rest. Looking behind him, Rock could see the blocks he crossed over vanishing quickly. Wehn Rock looked back ahead of him, he yelped when he saw another line of blocks appear above the bridge, threatening to block his path and leave him to fall into the spike pit below. Rock dashed once more and dropped to his hips, skidding along the block bridge and underneath the block ceiling. He bolted to his feet as soon as he was out the other side and sprung into the air, lucky to land on a newly-formed block. And just when he saw the edge of the platform on the other side, the block beneath his feet vanished. Rock air-jumped again, flying over the long gap between him and the platform.

Rock sailed through the air, watching the spikes pass below him, and over the edge of the platform. As soon as Rock landed on the solid floor, he collapsed to his hands and knees, thankful to be able to stand again. The last block disappeared, and all Rock was left with was the platform he stood on and the iron shutter on the wall in front of him. Taking a deep breath, Rock approached the shutter, and it flew up to let him pass.

The room inside was pitch black. Before Rock could turn back, the heavy shutter crashed down behind him, sealing him in the room. Rock squinted into the darkness, able to make out the walls and ceiling around him. As he ventured into the middle of the darkness, he heard a rumbling from above, and he felt the floor begin to tremble. And with a sudden roar, the ceiling collapsed with a crash, and a giant streak of yellow dropped down with such a heavy thud that it nearly shook Rock off his feet. The monsterous blob of yellow that towered above him quickly sprouted two small legs, two massive arms, and a piercing single red eye in the middle. The yellow monster took a single glance at Rock before shooting a quick energy blast straight at him from its eye. Rock nimbly dashed above the floor, dodging underneath the shot and charging his cannon. Rock unleashed a massive blast at the midsection of the monster, only to have it completely absorbed into the monster's skin, creating no more than a few ripples in the beast's gelatainous body. Rock came to a screeching halt, amazed at the yellow monster's invulnerability. The beast's body began to shake and wobble, and Rock watched as the yellow monster's body began to divide into pieces.

Suddenly, what was once the foot of the monster came sliding towards him, coming close to smashing into Rock's shins had he not leapt to the air in time. The knees of the monster came flying through the air at him, whirring past his face. The hips, hands, arms, everything came flying at him, with Rock dancing and jumping all over trying to avoid them. When the last bit of the yellow blob had flown past him, Rock followed it with his eyes behind him, and his jaw dropped when he saw that the beast had reformed on the other side of the room. As the yellow monster opened its eye again, Rock charged his cannon, and decided to aim for the eye, the only wide open target he could find at a glance. The blob's eye fired its energy shot, with Rock sliding underneath, popping back up to his feet, and firing his fully charged blast into the monster's eye. The blob responded with a piercing shriek, and the eye recessed into the blob before the body began to divide again. Hand, shoulder, and everything else of the jellylike monster's body flew at him again. Rock leapt over the feet, slid under a knee, dashed beside the stomach, and sprung over the hips, only to have the elbow of the monster come flying right into his face. As Rock was sent tumbling down, the other knee came speeding towards him, smacking him in the small of his back. Rock hit the ground hard, moaning as he picked himself up again. By the time he was at his knees, a shot from the blob's eye hit him in the back, knocking him back up to his feet. Rock spun himself around and fired off a semi-charged blast from his cannon, only seconds too late before the eye sunk back into the malleable blob's body, leaving Rock's shot to sink inside harmlessly. The blob began to divide again, and Rock readied himself to slide under the pieces once more.

Instead of the pieces flying though the air, the beast's body suddenly collapsed into a tidal wave of yellow, completely catching Rock by surprise, knocking him down immediately. As the yellow monster reassembled itself on the other side of the room, Rock recollected his senses quickly enough to spring up, whirl around, and blast another shot into the blob's eye. The monster wailed again, splitting up and rushing to the other side of the room again. Jumping, sliding, and dashing this way and that, Rock weaved between the flying blob bits and charged his cannon to the highest charge it could handle. As soon as the yellow monster eormd behind him, Rock shot out his cannon, aimed it right for the middle of the eye, and unleashed the roaring blast of energy inside his arm. The blast hit the monster's eye dead center, and the beast froze. After a short silence, the blob's arm creaked, moaned, and fell off at the shoulder, hitting the ground with a watery thud. The other arm was quick to follow, and the rest of the blob gushed into a giant puddle of thick slime. Rock leaned up against the other wall, taking a deep breath and trying to steady his racing heart.

Suddenly, the slime puddle roared and surged upwards, forming a badly deformed arm and eye, reaching up and slamming down at Rock, missing by a few feet. The floor collapsed, and Rock yelped as he and the yellow blob plummeted into the darkness below.


	15. Alpha

When Rock came to, the smell of soot and ash invaded his nostrils like a blowtorch. The instant he opened his eyes, all he could see was nothing but black all around him, and suffocating smog hung in the air. Coughing and hacking, Rock saw the charred, burnt remains of the yellow monster lying all around the dark room, lit only by the hole in the high ceiling above him. Rock groaned and rubbed his head, feeling the fumes from the ashes beginning to give him a headache. Stumbling through the darkness, Rock was surprised to find the remains of the familiar iron shutters on the wall, charred and cracked. Rock pushed the shutter, crumbling in a heap of burnt scrap and revealing a flash of light from the outside. Rock covered his eyes and stepped out, dropping out of the doorway and to the floor below. The giant room before him lay in ruin, with garbage and scrap metal covering the floors and walls, like a bomb had gone off seconds before, leaving a gigantic crater in the middle of the floor. Bodies of Virtuloids lay everywhere scattered amongst flaming wreckage and shrapnel. Rock looked to his left and saw a large sign lying broken on the ground reading, "DANGER: High Air Pressure Network." Rock looked back over his shoulder at the closed shutter. "That blob must've been quite explosive," he muttered before dashing out of the room.

The long gaping corridor before him stretched ahead for as far as he could see. Deciding that now would be a good time to try out Auto's speed boosters, Rock sprinted down the hall, gaining speed with each stride. Before Rock knew it, he as running at double the speed he could have ever remembered reaching, and just as he was a few meter away from a sharp left turn in the hallway, a rumbling in his knees quickly elevated to what felt like an explosion, and Rock was suddenly swept off of his feet, careening in midair around the corner and darting through the adjacent corridor like a spear. Rock's joyride was interrupted by the sight of quickly approaching floating drones, their eyeball-like bodies beginning to swarm towards him. Rock readied his cannon as soon as he saw them, charging it to full power before unleashing it into their ranks.

The cannon blast pierced a hole in the cloud of drones, with Rock zooming though it as they reformed and chased after him. Spinning around in midair, Rock charged his cannon again and let out blast after blast at the flying eyeball robots, shooting only a few down before they began to gain ground on him, with more and more starting to appear from seemingly out of nowhere to replace the ones he destroyed. Just as the chasing drones were about to touch his feet, a flash of metal shot down from in front of him, slamming down and cutting the corridor in two, separating him from the drones. The sounds of hundreds of the eyeball robots crashing into the iron shutter were welcome sounds for Rock, feeling his knees begin to stop trembling. Before he knew it, Rock was decreasing in speed, and was stumbling onto his feet in seconds, coming to a clumsy halt right in front of another shutter. Rocks looked back at the iron shutter behind him, and then at the shutter in front. "Nowhere else to go," Rock muttered, placing his hand on the shutter and watching it shoot up as he trekked underneath.

The shutter came down behind him, trapping Rock inside a small room. A large, capsule-like machine stood at the far end of the circular room, just big enough to hold someone inside of it. The furniture looked like someone had thrown them against the walls, intentionally trying to clear up an open space. As Rock cautiously ventured towards the large chamber, a deep voice from behind him said, "I've been expecting you."

Rock whirled around to see a tall, all gold-clad figure standing behind him, holding a massive metal sword slung over his shoulder, even larger than he himself. "You-" Rock stammered, "You must be Alpha!"

"You've been quite the thorn in my side, bomber," Alpha sneered. He swung his sword off of his shoulder, standing it on its wide tip on the floor. "Wrecking our facilities and destroying my officers- I know what you're up to."

"Then I guess you're not going to tell me where Masterframe is, are you?"

Alpha brushed his fiery red hair out of the way of his dark visor that covered his eyes. "The only thing I will tell you," he said as he wound his arms back, poised to strike with his massive blade, "is that your fight ends here."

Rock wasted no time in shooting a quick blast from his cannon at Alpha's chest. With a single swing of his sword, Alpha skillfully deflected Rock's shot off, sending it crashing harmlessly into the wall beside him. Alpha bolted off of his feet, charging at Rock and taking a wild vertical slash. Rock was a split second away from having his arm chopped off had he not weaved to his right when he did, leaving Alpha's massive sword to plunge into the ground. Alpha jerked on his sword twice before he was able to free it, giving Rock enough time to unload a charge into Alpha's chest. The semi-charged blast was only enough to make Alpha flinch, his golden armor not even showing so much as a blemish. Alpha slashed at Rock again, chasing him around the room with wild swings. Rock switched his weapons format to the first that came to mind, held his right-hand cannon out and fired. A thick blade of ice sprouted from his barrel, stopping Alpha's heavy sword. Alpha snarled at the thought of having a much more dangerous weapon being wielded against him, while Rock breathed a silent sigh of relief. Quickly stepping backwards, Alpha distanced himself from Rock, slung his sword over his shoulder again, and glared at Rock's stolen weapon. "So you can steal abilities," Alpha mused.

"So? What of it?" Rock sneered back.

"I just find it amusing that you're forced to rely on our own weapons to destroy us. Without us, you'd never survive."

"Hey, all's fair in love and war," said Rock with a snappy grin, "Now are you going to tell me about Masterframe, or do I have to beat that information out of you?"

Alpha arched his arm and readied his sword. "Come see if you can."

With that, Rock and Alpha charged each other, with both of their respective slashes stopping dead in the air against the other blade. Rock wound his arm back again and slashed violently at Alpha's chest, missing by only inches as Alpha nimbly leapt back, returning Rock's swipe with a strike of his own. Alpha's massive sword combined with his overpowering strength easily knocked Rock's arm to the side as it struck Rock's ice sword, leaving Rock's front wide open for an attack. Alpha took his chance and thrust his giant sword like a spear at Rock's belly. Purely on instinct, Rock swerved to his left, avoiding Alpha's attack. The weight of Alpha's sword carried him stumbling forward, leaving Rock with the opportunity to strike. Rock wound his arm back again, placed a mental target on Alpha's back, and took a wild slash. Chill's blade whipped across Alpha's back, tearing a frosty gash in Alpha's armor. Alpha yelped and arched his back, feeling chills run through his body as he struggled to recover from the shock of being struck from behind. "Too slow!" Rock taunted. Alpha only swiveled around, slashing viciously at Rock, again knocking Rock's arm to the side. Before Rock could recover, Alpha had already regained his balance, had wound back his arms, and swung with all the strength he has at Rock's chest. Just as Rock could control his arm again, Alpha's sword came slashing into Rock's right shoulder.

Rock gasped and yelped in unison when Alpha's sword cut into his armor. Whatever flesh was left in Rock's shoulder to begin with was torn immediately, starting to bleed profusely. Rock clutched his shoulder and winced, feeling a paralyzing numbness seize his whole arm. "So, the rumors were true," Alpha mused and Rock struggled to cope with his agony, "you are part human after all." Rock did not reply; he only let his right arm dangle limp as his hand replaced Chill's blade again. Grimacing and bearing the pain shooting through his arm, Rock's left hand sunk into his forearm, and a new ice sword sprouted out again in its place. As soon as Rock took a defensive stance, Alpha charged forward and swung his sword with a reckless abandon upon Rock's. Rock's blade was knocked aside again, and Alpha again tried to skewer Rock through his gut. Rock managed to sidestep Alpha again, which was exactly what Alpha was expecting. Instead of following through with his thrust, Alpha spun around and wildly flung his sword across Rock's injured shoulder, slicing open another deep gash that sprayed the room red. As Rock howled in agony, Alpha stepped back, prepared to strike again, and swung.

Through the crippling pain that ran though his shoulder, Rock somehow found the foresight to skip backwards, narrowly avoiding the edge of Alpha's sword tearing into his chest. And without wasting a second, Rock raised his left arm high and slashed downwards violently upon Alpha. The icy blade had gut a gash into Alpha's wrist, beginning to frost over immediately. Within seconds, Alpha's hand was completely frozen solid, leaving him struggling to hold up his heady sword with just one arm. Not waiting for the pain in his shoulder to worsen, Rock slashed at Alpha's wrist again, cutting deep and leaving crusts of ice in the wounds, freezing Alpha's arm completely. Alpha roared in surprised horror, too occupied with the freezing sensation running though his body to notice Rock stooping low, stabbing Chill's blade into Alpha's left thigh. Alpha screeched as he fell to his right knee, powerless enough to allow Rock to yank out the ice blade from his leg and swiftly plunge it into Alpha's chest.

All that Alpha could manage to do before his insides began to freeze up in a bitter cold was moan quietly before Rock withdrew Chill's sword from his body, collapsing face-first on the floor. "Now, tell me about Masterframe," Rock ordered, deactivating Chill's sword.

"You think you can destroy Masterframe?" Alpha weakly sneered. "You may have killed me, but you don't stand a chance if you try to destroy it."

"And why not?" Rock asked.

Alpha turned his head, and a rusty creaking echoed through the room. "Through that door," he said, looking at another iron shutter, "is my personal database. Once you see what Masterfrme is," Alpha paused to snicker, "you'll have your second thoughts about attacking it."

"What do you mean?"

Alpha sneered. "See for yourself, why don't you?" he dared. "But before you do, do you see that chamber over there?"

Rock glanced at the slim cylinder again. "Yeah?"

"That's an auto-repair machine," Alpha wheezed. "If you plan on attacking Masterframe, then trust me, you'll need it."

"How so?" Rock asked, getting irritated.

Alpha was silent and still. Dead.

The ripping pain in Rock's shoulder worsened, and he could bear it no longer. Rock walked to the small chamber, slid open the lightweight door, and steeped inside the hollow interior. As soon as the door slid shut again, Rock's body was met with an intense electrical charge. Every nerve and circuit in his body trembled and felt like they had caught fire. Almost as suddenly as it had began, the current stopped, and Rock was left stunned silent as the chamber door automatically slip open again. The first thing Rock felt as he stepped out of the chamber in a daze was the pain in his shoulder completely gone. He raised his arm and looked at where Alpha had lacerated him, and found not so much as a scratch on his armor. His fingertips still tingled as a small yet oddly soothing electrical charge still ran through his body. Rock could not believe what had just happened- he had never felt so refreshed and healthy in his short memory. Stepping over Alpha's body and heading towards the shutter, Rock took a deep breath as the shutter flew open, stepping over the threshold, and hearing the shutter slam down behind him.


	16. Marie

Rock pushed through the heavy iron doors, still feeling the soothing electric charge running though his body. "Rock, is the CD still intact?" Roll's voice asked him through his helmet.

Rock slid his hand underneath his chest armor, and pulled out the small, slim case. "It's still in one piece," he said, walking down the dim hallway towards the metal shutter at the end. "The computer that's got Masterframe's info is just behind that shutter in front of me. Are you sure you can still beam me out of there?"

"Auto says everything's fine," said Roll, "Just get that data downloaded and we'll pull you out."

Rock breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "About time I had an easy misson," He muttered, juggling the disc case as he approached the shutter. The shutter flew up, Rock crossed into the small, dull room ahead, and the shutter came crashing down again. There was only one small running computer sitting on a small desk in the far corner of the room, complete with a small chair. Rock plopped into the seat, fed the disc into the CPU, and began searching anything on Masterframe. After a minute, Rock found what he was looking for. "Roll, I've found where Masterframe is," he said, "I'll have all the data copied in no time."

"That's good to hear," Roll sighed. "As soon as you get back, we'll start planning f- oh shit, Rock! Hurry!" Roll suddenly screamed.

"What?" Rock gasped, bolting off the chair. "Roll, what's happened?"

"Marie!" Roll screamed back. "She's headed right for you, Rock!"

Rock pounded on the keyboard, wishing for the download to go faster. "Almost done," Rock breathed, "How much time do I have?"

"Try fifteen seconds!"

"Shit!" Rock cursed, just as the disc ejected from the CPU. Rock fumbled with the case, accidentally dropping it in his hurry. He snatched the case up off the floor, and plugged the disc back inside just as the heavy shutter flew up again.

Marie now stood in the room, frozen on the spot with a stare set on the disc in Rock's hands. "Rock, what are you doing?" Marie asked.

The blank stare of surprise in Marie's eyes told Rock that his charade was up. "I-" Rock stammered, "I'm stealing the data on Masterframe."

"All this time," Marie muttered, "you were working for the humans!"

"No, Marie," Rock muttered back, "I am human."

The shutter behind Marie came slamming down again. The look of disgust on Marie's face told Rock all he needed to hear. "But- you just walked past the CO2 scanners! You can't be human! You just can't!"

"I don't need to breathe."

Marie was stunned silent. Rock took a deep breath.

"From what I was told, I died over four years ago, and a pack of human survivors built this armor and my weapons into me, modelled after the old Megamen designs. You've probably figured it out now, but it was me behind the attack on the factory. I destroyed the ore mines, the power plant, the dam, everything. I destroyed anything and anyone that stood in my way."

"I can't believe it," Marie murmured. "You killed them all. And you just used me for information, didn't you?"

Rock hung his head, and sighed deeply. "I did."

Marie's right hand clenched into a fist, and her left morphed into a cannon. "You low-life, disgusting fleshbag," Marie hissed. "I'm going to rip you apart."

Rock quickly snuck the disc case underneath his back armor. He readied his own cannon, and glared back at Marie. "I don't want to fight you," Rock said, "If I could level half of his building, I c-"

A quick blast from Marie's cannon cut Rock off as he dove to his right, letting the blast demolish the computer. Rock knew the talking was over, and he returned Marie's shot with a blast of his own. Marie skillfully leapt over Rock's shot, bolting off of her feet as soon as she hit the ground, flying through the air with a speeding kick that smacked Rock in the middle of his chin. Rock was floored immediately, landing clumsily on his back before rolling back to his feet. Marie kept her cannon aimed at Rock's head, watching Rock pick himself up. "Don't try to imtimidate me," Marie snarled. "Did you assume I was just another pile of bolts?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," Rock muttered, rubbing his swollen bottom lip. Rock switched his weapon format to Lightning's system, and pointed his cannon back at Marie. Without a word more, Rock unleased a crack of thunder from his cannon, forcing Marie to jump backwards, startled by the dazzling bolt of lightning. "Lightning, Ground, Chill, I've stolen all their weapons too. Still want to fight?"

Marie said nothing; she only fired another quick blast at Rock, shooting herself ahead as well. Rock leapt over the blast with ease, but was again caught with Marie's stiff kick to his jaw. Rock was knocked onto his back again, using his body's inertia to roll himself back up to his feet. As Marie charged in on him again, Rock switched weapon formatsm shot his cannon up at Marie, and unleashed a roaring fireball at her face. Marie yelped and jumped back, startled long enough for Rock to change weapons again, giving Marie a quick zap from Lightning's weapon. As Marie stood there stunned and shaking, Rock switched back to his normal cannon, And began charging his cannnon to full power. Before he could release the blast, Marie's body had recovered from the paralyzing strike, kicking her foot up at Rock's chin again. With a nimble leap backwards, Rock dodged Marie's attack, firing his cannon into her chest. The roaring energy surge blew Marie backwards, sending her crashing to to floor. As soon as she stumbled back to her feet, Rock shot another quick blast into her shoulder. Marie collapsed onto her knee. "Okay, stop it, Rock!" She wheezed, placing her hand on her chest.

Rock stood still, watching Marie huff heavily. Rock cautiously walked over towards her, and said, "I didn't want to hurt you, bu-"

The sudden flash of energy that shot from Marie's cannon would have hit Rock square in the chest, had he not slid on the floor underneath the blast. "Damn!" Marie cursed, springing back to her feet.

"You-!" Rock blurted out, glaring angrily at Marie.

As Marie leapt back to her feet, Rock sent an evergy blast crashing into her chest, followed by a torrent of water. Marie was sent head over heels onto the floor again, soaking wet and starting to tremble. As Rock approached her again, Marie bolted back up, throwing a wild kick at Rock's face. Rock dodged underneath her foot with ease, jamming his cannon into her side and unleashing another blast of water into her ribs, sending her skidding across the room on her face, stopping when she hit the wall on the other side. Again Marie collapsed, falling over onto her face. "Ow, please stop!" she begged, propping herself up onto her hands and knees. "Okay, you win, alright?"

Rock glared at her doubtfully. "You're not just going to try and cheapshot me again, are you?" Rock growled.

"No, I'm really hurt," Marie moaned, cradling her side across her stomach. "You've really damaged me very badly this time."

Marie began to tremble, and Rock found himself believing her. "You've seen the repair pod in Alpha's office, right?" Rock asked. Marie nodded. "If we can yet you out of this room," Rock began, letting his mind wander, "then I'm sure it's got enough charge left in it to-"

Another shot roared from Marie's cannon as his mind snapped back on track, clipping the edge of Rock's shoulder armor as he slid to the floor again. "Dammit," Marie hissed, "Why won't you stay still?"

Rock felt his blood start to boil. "All right, Marie, now you're pissing me off," Rock hissed.

Marie was back to her feet in a flash, firing off cannon shots wildly with reckless abandon. Rock tried his best to weave between and dodge the blasts, but the sheer number of speeding energy bolts were too much for him to handle. After being hit by six shots to his chest, Rock stumbled over onto his back as the last of the shots zoomed over him. Rock propped himself onto his knee, just to have Marie rush in on him again and plant her heel onto his nose. Rock was knocked over his head and onto his stomach to the floor, feeling a wide trail of blood leaking from his nostrils. As he groggily picked himself up, his head was spinning too much to see Marie aim her cannon straight for the middle of his chest and firing. The blast plowed into Rock's collar, sending him reeling backwards as Marie dove forward, thrashing her leg out at his jaw and connecting with another violent kick. Rock felt his teeth crack against each other as he crashed onto his side, spitting out a tooth. As Marie wound back her leg to kick Rock in the gut, Rock shot his cannon up and blasted out a bolt of lightning, stunning Marie in place again. As Marie struggled to move against the paralysing surge running through her body, Rock found the time to pick himself up, and recollect his scrambled senses. By the time he had put his head back on order, he felt a sharp pain shoot though his shoulder. As Rock stumbled to keep his balance, he saw Marie retract and prime her leg again for another kick, setting her sights on Rock's head. Marie struck, with Rock throwing his arm up just in time to hook Marie's foot above his shoulder. Marie squeaked with surprise as she hopped on one foot, too surprised by having her leg caught to notice that Rock was already charging his cannon. Without a single word, Rock shoved the barrel of his fully charged cannon into Marie's chest again, unleashing its fury directly into her.

Marie landed hard on her back, followed by a sharp shriek. Marie rolled over onto her side, trembling and convulsing, struggling to get up on her knees. "Rock, I can't take any more," Marie moaned, coughing in between her groaning. "I give up... just stop, please?"

Rock snorted. "You think I'm stupid enough to buy that again?" Rock snarled, starting to charge his arm cannon.

"No! Please!" Marie begged, holding her hand out at Rock, as if trying to protect herself. "I can't take any more! You'll kill me!"

"Where have I heard that before?" Rock hissed, feeling his cannon approach full power.

"Rock!" Marie begged, "I'm not lying this time! I swear! I can't take any more damage!"

"Damage this!" Rock roared, thrusting his cannon forward and unleashing a massive energy blast at Marie's chest. The giant blast tore a hole through Marie's body, spewing gears and pistons out the other side. Marie fell with a limp thud onto her back, and lay motionless.

Rock kept his cannon aimed at Maire's torso, half-expecting to hear more of her pleading. A minute passed with absolute silence, and then another, and then Rock realised had happened. "Marie!" Rock gasped, dashing to her side.

Rock knelt down at her shoulders and cradled her head in his arm. Rock could see her struggle to keep her eyes open, and a weak smile was strewn across her face. "I don't blame you for not believing me," Marie whispered weakly, "I would have done the same... thing."

As Marie's hair dangled between Rock's fingers, he could not help but imagining Dawn in Marie's place, feeling like he had lost another friend. "I should have listened," Rock muttered under his breath, running his fingers through Marie's hair under her head.

Rock kept stroking Marie's hair as Marie wheezed, trying to comfort her as she lay dying. "Rock," Marie asked, "You weren't just using me for information, were you?"

Rock stroked Marie's hair some more. "No," he said at length, "I wasn't."

"Why?" Marie asked again, "Why did you say I was cute?"

"You," Rock murmured, taking a deep breath, "you remind me of someone. Someone I knew a long time ago."

Marie sighed uneasily. "Another human?" She wheezed. Rock nodded. "What was... her name?"

"Dawn," Rock replied blankly.

Marie weakly chuckled. "That's ironic, Rock," she grinned, "my name's really not Marie."

"It isn't?" Rock asked.

"No, Marie is just what everyone calls me."

Rock bit his tongue. "Then what is your real name?"

Marie closed her eyes, took a deep sigh, and whispered, "Eve."

Marie's body loosened, and Rock felt Marie's head like a dead weight on his arm. He held her to his chest and sobbed. 


	17. Turbulence

The instant Rock appeared back inside the teleporter chamber, Rock was met by Blues and Auto standing before him. Rock trudged out of the teleporter, his thick black hair dangling limp from hung head. "Id the CD still in one piece?" Blues asked.

Rock said nothing. He only swatted Blues aside and stormed towards Auto. Picking the disc out from undeneath his armor, Rock jabbed the case into Auto's chest and growled, "Find where Masterframe is."

Auto was stunned silent. Blues was till trying to come to terms with Rock shoving him. Blues gave a quick nod to Auto, and Auto nodded back before rushing out of the room. As Rock began to follow, Blues barked, "Hold it, Rock."

"Hold yourself," Rock sneered, leaving the room.

As Rock left for the control room, he met Roll in the hallway. "Rock, I heard what happened," She said as sympathetically as she could, "and I th-"

Rock stormed past her too, not even looking up. When he caught up with Auto at the main computer, Blues was right behind him. "What do you think you're doing, Rock?" Blues scolded.

Rock ignored Blues, and looked over Auto's shoulder. "A building east of the HQ," Rock muttered to himself. "Auto, warp me there."

Blues clamped his hand on Rock's shoulder, and forcefully spun him around. "Answer me," Blues ordered, sticking his nose into Rock's face.

Rock glared at Blues."I'm destroying Masterframe. Now."

"No, you won't," Blues replied. "You'll take out Masterframe when I give you the order. Understand?"

Rock smacked Blues' hand off of his shoulder. "I told you, I'm destroying Masterfame now."

Roll had slipped into the room, quickly joining Auto. "You'll do what I say, when I say," Blues barked back. "I know what happened back there, but now's not the time to dwell on it. You're in no condition, physical or emotional, to go out and fight again. Everything we've accomplished so far will be wasted if we lose you-"

"So I'm a tool. Is that it?"

Blues fell silent. "You think my body was a tool for four-eyes to do his Frankenstien experiment on? Why didn't you just build a robot of your own?"

"We had neither the resources nor the time, Rock," Blues barked back. "It would have taken another year to buil-"

"You're fine for six years in this fucking bunker and you can't take another? You'd rather play God and bring me back into a world where everything I've known and loved is gone and use me like your own little weapon? Well here's news for you, Napoleon, I'm taking charge now. Auto, get the teleporer ready."

Auto remained frozen to his seat.

"Now!"

As Auto steadily rose off the chair, Blues ordered, "Rock, get a grip."

Rock snarled, and jammed the barrel of his cannon into Blues' face. Roll shrieked as Auto dove to the floor. Blues looked sideways at Auto. "Auto, do what he says," Blues said calmly. Auto hastily scrambled back to his feet and scurried out of the room, with Roll close behind. "You want to go? Fine. Just reconsider what you're doing first."

"Out of my way," Rock snarled, ignoring Blues and shoving him out of his path.

As Rock entered the teleporter room, he saw that Auto had already prepared the machine. Without looking back, Rock climbed the steps leading to the inside of the casket-like machine, stepped inside, and was gone in a flash. 


	18. Return

Rock appeared with a flash at the gigantic metal doors of the towering, cube-like building in front of him. The surrounding area was a dry and barren wasteland of clay and rock, and directly above of the cubical shelter ran an elevated highway, supported by tall columns and stretched as far into the distance as Rock could see. Hatred still ran like a fire through his veins; the thought of being used as a mere pawn mixed with the loss of the only being that reminded him of his lost love Dawn fuelled his burning rage and fighting spirit. In a fit of rage, Rock took off his helmet, reached inside, and tore out a big handful of wires. When nothing but static hummed in his ears when he put it back on, he was grateful to have severed all contact with those whom he felt had played him like a fiddle. Rock kicked the doors open, stepping inside the dark and oddly spacious building without a second thought. The small lights that hung from the lofty ceiling gave the features of the square room an eerie illumination, reflecting off the hundreds of small whirring machines and computers packed away on the side. The overhead lights ran in a straight line, leading up towards the tallest machine of them all- a hulking heap of metal that towered all the way to the ceiling. What looked like tubes of some kind laced either edge on the right and left sides around the middle, and two gigantic structures stood from the bottom. From all that Rock could assume, they were nothing more than two supports to hold the gigantic machine upright. As soon as Rock stepped towards the feet of the machine, a slow and booming voice from the ceiling asked"The blue bomber himself has come"

"That's me all right" Rock sneered. "And you're Masterframe"

"Correct."

"Then prepare to be destroyed" Rock snarled, charging his cannon and firing off a fully developed blast at the heart of the machine. The cannon shot bounced harmlessly off of the hulking machine, and Masterframe appeared to be completely unharmed. "No, bomber" Masterframe boomed"You will be destroyed."

"Hey look, it's our pal, the bomber"

The sudden taunt from behind him made Rock whirl around, and his jaw dropped. Standing behind him were Ground, Lightning, Hydro, Burn, Chill, and Storm, the six Virtuloids that he had sworn he had destroyed. "Wha- how" Was all Rock could manage to blurt out.

"Easy" said Lightning calmly"We're just one of the few lucky Virtuloids to have backup bodies for ourselves."

"B-backup bodies" Rock stammered.

"Enough talk" Ground sneered"let's just kill him already"

"Hold on" Masterframe boomed. A small panel on Rock's eye-level opened up from Masterframe's surface, and a glowing sphere of light popped out, dropping to the floor and rolling to Rock's feet. "I require some entertainment. Bomber, I sense that your body is damaged. Touch the sphere. It will restore your power."

Rock looked doubtingly at the glowing ball before him, and then back at the six Virtuloids eyeing him murderously. Taking a deep breath, Rock reached out and plunged his hand into the sphere. Like Alpha's chamber had done before, Rock felt a jolt of electricity run through his body upon contact with the gaseous ball. Before he knew it, the current had stopped shooting though him, leaving him feeling refreshed and recharged, with the cuts and bruises on his skin fully healed without so much as a scar. "Now can we kill him" Hydro whined.

Masterframe's deep chuckling echoed around the room like rolling thunder. "Bon appetite."

Suddenly, Storm cut in front of his allies and spread his wings wide, blocking the other Virtuloids. "I'll take him. You guys can have what's left."

"Sure" Burn muttered.

"Go for it" Chill added.

The rest of the Virtuloids stepped back and Storm marched forward, wrapping his metal wings around his slim body. Recalling how he had destroyed Storm's original body, Rock switched weapons format and sprouted Chill's blade out of his right cannon. Storm grimaced at the sight of the icy blade again, and spread his wings open. "You think you can defeat me like that again" Storm taunted, stretching his wings back"Let's see you try to get close enough"

With that, Storm snapped his wings forward, blowing an intense gust of wind at Rock. Rock instinctively shielded his face with his arms, and Storm took to the air and zoomed towards Rock. Storm's body smashed full-force into Rock's chest, flattening Rock on the floor in a heartbeat. Storm spread his wings and glided upwards as Rock rolled back on his feet, taking a wild, futile swing at Storm with Chill's ice sword and missing completely. As Storm swooped in to ram Rock again, Rock boldly stood in place, watching Storm dive directly at him. At the last second before impact, Rock bucked himself backwards, stabbing upwards with the icy blade as Storm zoomed overhead. Storm's chest just barely clipped Rock's forehead, while Chill's sword grazed Storm's thigh and plunged deep into his knee. Storm screeched and crashed clumsily onto the floor, coming to a skidding halt at the feet of the other Virtuloids. Avoiding the disapproving glares of his comrades, Storm hopped up to his right leg, his left immobilized from the knee down, coated in a thin covering of ice already. Without saying a word, Storm flapped his wings and rose into the air, aiming the barrel of his cannon at Rock and firing. The whirlwind blasted so fiercely upon Rock that it blew him head over heels, scrambling his vision long enough for Storm to bolt downwards and bury his head deep into Rock's gut. Rock wheezed and gasped, rolling around on the floor and cradling his stomach, struggling to breathe. Storm looped around in the air above, circling vertically before deciding the dive in once more. Suddenly remembering that he no longer needed to breathe, Rock's body found a burst of renewed energy, nullifying the frantic spasms of his abdominals, letting Rock focus himself long enough to register the image of Storm shooting straight for him like a spear again. Rock kicked his legs and flung his arms forward, flipping himself up to his feet and thrusting out his ice sword as Storm smashed into him. Storm landed with a limp thump on top of Rock as the two hit the floor, suddenly aware of the freezing pain in the middle of his torso. Storm looked down to his chest as saw Rock's arm firmly embedded into his body, with Chill's sword sticking out of his back. Storm mumbled and whined under his breath as a paralyzing cold consumed him, soon nothing more than a metal Popsicle. Rock wearily rose to his feet, with Storm's body still attached to his arm. With a mere thought, Rock's ice sword ejected from his wrist, replaced with his normal hand again as Storm's body fell like a broken doll to the ground. "So," Rock asked the group of Virtuloids behind him, "who's next?"

There was a minute of motionless silence before Chill eventually stepped forward. "You'll disgrace my favorite weapon no longer," he sneered, sprouting an ice sword of his own out of his arm cannon.

Ground suddenly trudged forward and joined Chill's side. "I'll make sure you kill him," he growled.

"I don't need any help," Chill said curtly.

"That's what Storm thought," said Burn quickly.

Chill glanced uneasily at Storm's icy coffin. "On second thought," Chill muttered, "thanks for the offer, Ground."

Rock's heartbeat doubled in speed. The thought of fighting both Chill and Ground at once did not settle well with him. "No problem, Chill," said Ground, spinning the augers that he carried instead of hands eagerly, "Now let's kill him!"

Rock weaved to his right, avoiding the thrust of Ground's drill, leaning over forward enough to avoid Chill's slashing ice sword. Rock tumbled to the floor and left a wide gap between himself and the Virtuloids, morphing his own cannon into Burn's flamethrower. Chill was immediately frozen in place with fear, while Ground charged in on Rock undeterred. Bursts of flames shot from Rock's cannon, only bouncing off of Ground's armor like harmless clouds. Ground lunged forward, driving his shoulder into Rock's chest, bowling Rock over like a tin can. Rock landed with the wind driven out of him again, trying his best to ignore his instinctual stomach reflexes as Ground thrust his drill-hand at Rock's face. Rock rolled to his left, narrowly avoiding the tip and watching it plunge into the floor only inches away from his head. Ground tore the auger out and speared it down again, just missing Rock as he rolled back to his right. Again and again, Ground jabbed his drills at Rock, only to hit nothing but floor tiles every time. Suddenly, Rock stuck out his arm cannon as Ground jabbed again, catching Ground's drill inside the barrel of his cannon. Snickering as he switched weapons format, Rock blasted a vicious gale of wind from his cannon, blowing out Ground's arm with such force that it sent him sailing upwards, landing with a heavy thud at Chill's feet. As soon as Rock propped himself up onto his knee, he saw Chill charging at him, ice sword wound over his shoulder. The vicious slash that Chill took at Rock left him no time to react, cutting a gash into his chest armor. As a freezing cold seeped into his body, Rock switched back to Burn's flamethrower, and just as Chill moved in to strike again, Rock unleashed a flash of fire at Chill's face. Chill screeched and skidded to a halt when the flames licked his body, darting backwards as Ground trudged back to his feet. With a full head of steam, Rock blasted another gale at Ground, suddenly feeling the air go deathly cold. With the memory of his last fight with Chill still fresh in his memory, Rock immediately dropped to the ground, feeling an intense blast of freezing air rush over him. A surprised yelp echoed over the room, and to Rock's delight, Ground was now fully encased in an immobilising block of ice. Chill could only give a dismayed cry at his mistake before Rock leapt back to his feet and shot another blast of flames at him, driving Chill back, rubbing his scorched arms. With Chill nursing his burn, Rock hurriedly charged his cannon to full power, and unleashed a turbulent blast of power into Ground's face. Ground's neck broke like a twig with an icy snap, and both body and skull hit the floor together. In the same heartbeat, Rock lashed his cannon out to his side, halting Chill barrel-to-nose in his aborted ambush. And with the sound of flames gurgling deep within Rock's cannon, Chill could only find the resolve to mutter, "Oh shit."

The flash of flames that erupted from Rock's cannon engulfed Chill's head and shoulders, and his lifeless body dropped to the floor.

Hydro, Lightning, and Burn stared at the bodies of their fallen allies, each refusing o believe what they saw. "This guy's good," Lightning muttered.

"But look how damaged he is," Hydro said, pointing at the frosty laceration in Rock's chest, "There's no way he could fight off all three of us at once."

Rock began to break a cold sweat over the hot beads that already streamed down his face.

"It's cowardly," Burn muttered, "but what the hell."

Rock wheezed and placed his hand over the icy tear in his armor, struggling to keep his knees from bucking out from underneath him. Realising that no amount of begging or swift talk would be able to get them to fight fairly, Rock morphed his cannon to Lightning's thunderbolt and held his breath. "Just bring it already."

Hydro charged directly forwards while Burn and Lightning flanked Rock's left and right. Rock fired out a blast of lightning at Hydro as Lightning and Burn vanished from the corners of his eyes. The thunderbolt hit Hydro dead in the chest, just as a searing flash of flames blasted onto his left arm. Hydro and Rock hit the ground together, Hydro stunned and twitching while Rock was still able to spring back to his feet from his knees. Rock whirled around and lashed his cannon around blindly, shooting another lightning bolt in Burn's direction. The blast hit Burn on his shoulder, spinning him around and tumbling to the floor. Almost as soon as Burn dropped, Rock felt a violent jolt run through his body, hearing Lightning chuckling cruelly from behind. Rock tried his best to control the frantic trembling of his surge-induced paralysed limbs, watching Burn and Hydro stumble back to their feet.

"I wanna' finish him off!" Hydro whined, "Stand aside!"

"Don't blow a valve," Lightning sneered, "He's mine."

"Great," Rock muttered inwardly, "They're fighting over who gets to kill me now."

"I wanna'!" Hydro insisted.

"No, we'll charge in together," Burn spoke up. "You two can have what's left of him after."

"Fine," Hydro grumbled. Lightning shrugged once and nodded.

Without a word more, the three Virtuloids bolted off of their feet, rushing in on Rock. Thinking on the spot, Rock whirled around and fired one of Ground's drills and Lightning's chest. Rock saw Lightning yelp as he was pinned to the floor by the tip of the drill skewered through his shoulder before Burn and Hydro rammed their shoulders into Rock's back. Rock stumbled forwards, switching to Lightning's weapon as he whirled around and yelled, "I dare you, Hydro!"

Hydro roared and rushed in, despite Burn's cried of, "No Hydro! Stop!" The instant that Hydro was within a swinging distance from Rock, Rock threw and electric-charged fist into Hydro's chin, paralysing him stiff upon contact. As soon as Burn took aim with his flamethrower, Rock swung out his cannon arm and met Burn with a blast of Hydro's water onto his chest. Steam rose with a hiss from Burn's armor, and he dropped onto one knee wheezing heavily, like a human would at the start of a heart attack. With Lightning and Hydro still incapacitated, Rock proceeded to douse Burn with a torrent of Hydro's water, ignoring Burn's steadily fading cries of agony as the room began to fog up like a sauna. When Burn's wails fell silent, Rock halted his showering, finding Burn lying motionless on the floor- his once bright red armor now a sickly shade of grey.

Before Rock could catch a breath, another jolt of electricity ran up his spine, freezing him in place as Lightning, now freed from Ground's drill, dragged himself up to his feet and charged in on Rock. Just before Lightning could slap his electrifying palm on the back of Rock's neck, the electric shock running through Rock's body dissipated as quickly as it had come, letting Rock whirl around and flash the tip of another drill in Lightning's face. Lightning yelped and came to a skidding halt, terrified of the electricity-sapping auger, coming within inches of the tip. Rock snickered, spun the drill, and plunged it deep into Lightning's gut. As the current of electricity began to leech from Lightning's body to Rock's, Rock blindly swung his free arm out to the side, grabbing the freshly recovered Hydro by the face. The sheer amount of electric power that surged through Lightning's body passed harmlessly through Rock's copycat weapons system like a cable, directing all of Lightning's massive bodily voltage right into Hydro. Lightning slumped lifelessly onto Rock's arm as the last of his power was sapped, while Hydro gave a high-pitched screech before his limbs exploded violently. Rock released what remained of Hydro and ejected Ground's drill from his cannon, leaving both Lightning's and Hydro's bodies collapsing to the floor.

Rock hunched over, resting his elbows on his knees and wheezing deeply, doubting that his system could handle any more damage before it would fatally overload. When he could finally manage to calm himself down, Rock spun around and looked up at Masterframe's hulking figure before him. "Too bad they couldn't kill me," Rock sneered, "because now it's your turn to be destroyed."

Rock locked his eyes on the middle of Masterframe, packing away all the charge he could in his arm cannon before releasing it all in one brilliant flash. The gigantic blast hit Masterframe's surface, and Rock's jaw dropped when he watched the blast bounce off harmlessly, ricocheting into the ceiling and demolishing an entire quarter of it. Masterframe's booming snicker filled the room again. "You should have listened to Alpha, foolish human," Masterframe roared. "You've seen the beauty side of me, now come and see the beast."

With that, the floor began to rumble so violently that it tripped Rock onto the floor. The numerous tubes that Rock had noticed earlier on Masterframe's structure suddenly pulled out on one end on a will of their own, and it was then Rock realised that they were not tubes of any kind.

They were a full set of fingers, and they belonged to two massive hands.

Rock crawled away backwards, watching in awe and disbelief, as Masterframe seemed to unfold, like a humanoid figure sitting up from a chair. And when Masterframe's body began to stand, it was only then that Rock realised what Masterframe truly was. The two gigantic pillars had been nothing more than Masterframe's feet and shins, and Masterframe itself had been sitting comfortably upon a gigantic throne. Masterframe's head broke through what remained of the ceiling, raining large chunks of debris upon Rock, scrambling left and right to avoid being crushed underneath the collapsing ceiling. As the last debris fell and the glowing rays of light from the setting sun outside filled the cubical building, Rock spotted a slim chamber by the wall; almost identical to the one Auto had built, labelled with a simple exit sign. Not willing to wait and be crushed underfoot by the gigantic metal monster that now towered high above him, Rock dashed full speed into the chamber, and he vanished in a flash.


	19. Masterframe

With a flash of light, Rock found himself basking in the glow of the sunset, crouched upon a smooth steel surface. Standing up and gazing around, he discovered that he was at the top of the elevated highway that he had seen earlier, positioned safely on the thin sidewalk that ran along the edges of the broad road. Aching all over and feeling like he could fall apart at any moment, Rock switched to Lightning's weapon system, trudged over to a nearby lamppost, and smashed his fist through. The resulting surge of power that coursed through his body felt nothing less than heavenly, supercharging his depleted power reserves which more than made up for whatever physical damage he still carried. Rock marveled at how well his body had accepted the electric charge with Lightning's electricity harnessing ability in action. Fully recovered and refreshed, Rock's thoughts immediately turned to Masterframe as a deep rumbling echoed through the air from behind, and the highway began to tremble.

Rock spun around to see Masterframe's gigantic body standing tall above the wreckage of his shelter, his piercing yellow eyes locking on to Rock as his stocky, massive body trudged towards him. Instinctively, Rock turned on his heel and ran for his life, suddenly wishing he had not torn out the communicator module from his helmet. He looked over his shoulder as he ran, watching Masterframe slowly march behind him, his long strides quickly catching up to Rock in not even a minute. Striding alongside the highway beside Rock, Masterframe's waist met the highway on the level, leaving Rock looking like an insect scurrying atop a kitchen counter. Masterframe's cold-looking eyes remained locked on Rock, set upon a wide, featureless dark blue face that matched the rest of his smooth dark blue armor plating. Boling as fast as he could, Rock narrowly managed to dart to safety as Masterframe's open palm came down, trying to crush Rock underneath and demolishing a section of the highway instead. Whirling around and running backwards, Rock packed away all the charge he could into his arm cannon, and unleashed it all in one titanic blast straight between Masterframe's eyes. The blast bounced off of Masterframe's face harmlessly, not even leaving so much as a mark. With all other ideas exhausted, Rock took aim as Masterframe raised his gigantic arm once more, and opened fire. The blasts bounced off of Masterframe as ineffectively as they had before, and Rock barely found time enough to dart out of the way of Masterframe's slamming hand, obliterating another section of roadway. When Rock was expecting another attempted squashing from Masterframe, he looked over his shoulder to see Masterframe's eerie yellow eyes light up in an unsettling glow instead. And without any warning, two gigantic beams shot from Masterframe's eyes, missing Rock by only a few inches as another hole was blown into the road.

Knowing that he could not keep running forever, Rock whirled around and decided to try his extra weapons. Switching to Ground's drills, Rock kept running backwards and aimed at Masterframe's face again, opening fire and launching a pair of drills into Masterframe's forehead. Just like his cannon shots before, Ground's drills bounced harmlessly off of Masterframe's armor. "Fuck!" Rock screamed, switching to Storm's whirlwind as Masterframe raised his giant arm again. Rock unleashed a violent blast of wind at Masterframe's head, hoping it would throw him off balance and topple him. The gale did little more than annoy Masterframe and the hand came down regardless, smashing more of the road to rubble. Frustrated, Rock switched to Burn's flamethrower, and before Masterframe could raise his arm again, Rock blasted a rush of flames onto Masterframe's fingers. Masterframe roared and quickly withdrew his hand, leaving pools of melted metal splattering all over the highway. The armor on his hand had liquefied, revealing the inner skeleton-like structure underneath. With little other than impulse running his body now, Rock ran to the edge of the highway and got as close to Masterframe's body as he could, unleashing another blast of fire at Masterframe's midsection. Masterframe roared again as his stomach armor melted away, winding back his arm and swinging blindly in front of him. Rock was in no position to dodge, and quickly found himself winded and sailing along the road in the air after a brutal smack to his entire body. After the rough landing thoroughly scrambled his senses, Rock decided that Burn's weapon was just not practical to keep using against Masterframe.

As Masterframe approached him again, Rock got up on one knee, switched weapons format, and shot out a torrent of water at Masterframe's head. The water splashed pathetically against Masterframe's face, leaving Rock feeling foolish for ever considering to try Hydro's weapon. Switching to Lightning's weapon, Rock took aim at Masterframe's face again and prepared to fire between Masterframe's eyes. Suddenly, Masterframe's eyes lit up again, and two blazing beams of energy plowed into Rock's chest. Rock was knocked head-over-heels by the searing blast, conveniently coming to a stop on his feet again, letting him spring out of the way of Masterframe's hand coming down upon him again, demolishing more highway in his wake. As soon as Masterframe raised his hand again, Rock blasted a lightning bolt directly into Masterframe's face, dead between the eyes.

Masterframe reeled back, bellowing in agony as his hands flew to his face. "Gotcha' now!" Rock jeered, smirking as he aimed between Masterframe's fingers and fired off another electric blast. The lightning struck Masterframe's forehead, driving another roar from the metal giant. With one hand covering his face, Masterframe swept his other arm blindly along the highway, hoping to swat Rock away like a fly. Leaping once and then double-jumping in midair again, Rock easily cleared Masterframe's zooming arm, shooting another lightning bolt into Masterframe's jaw. Again, Masterframe howled and lashed out at Rock, leaving just enough room between his arm and the highway for Rock to slide underneath, pop back up to his feet, and send another lightning bolt at Masterframe's head. And that was all Masterframe's face could handle.

With a single ear-shattering shriek, Masterframe covered his head with his arm as a loud muffled boom roared through the air, followed by what sounded like breaking glass. Thousands of tiny metal shards rained upon Rock, littering the highway with Masterframe's crumbling face. Rock just stood there in stunned silence, watching more and more of Masterframe's facial armor shredded and fell to the ground. Just as suddenly as the disruption began, everything fell still and silent, with neither Rock nor Masterframe showing any signs of life. Muffled hissing came from Masterframe's obscured face, and Rock steadied his arm upon Masterframe's forehead, preparing himself for the worst.

And the worst came when Masterframe's arms flew up, revealing a skull-like face underneath what remained of his shattered facial armor, glaring wildly at Rock with a pair of reddened, almost bloodshot-looking eyes. Rock was so transfixed with shock and horror that he barely snapped out of his rapture in time to double-jump into the air, avoiding Masterframe's arms smashing into each other, trying to crush Rock like a trash compactor. Rock landed skillfully on Masterframe's wrists, firing another lightning bolt into Masterframe's forehead. The bolt bounced off of Masterframe's skull like a harmless pebble to a tank, and Masterframe roared with a booming, half-crazed laugh. Rock fired again, getting the same ineffective result as the air filled with Masterframe's mocking laughter.

Suddenly, the laughing stopped. Masterframe parted his hands, dropping Rock back on the highway, and raised his arms high, placing a mental target lock on Rock's head. And with a mighty roar, Masterframe brought both arms down, smashing his forearms into the highway like clubs, completely obliterating the road underneath. Rock managed to vacate the spot before it's ruination, watching as Masterframe threw up his arms again, and hurling his right down upon Rock, missing him by a meter as Rock ran for his life again. Masterframe's left and right arms came down on the highway one after another, chasing Rock as he bolted down the sidewalk, bashing up the highway like a pair of sledgehammers to a xylophone. With this new single-minded fury, Masterframe was much more occupied on putting every ounce of his power into smashing the highway than keeping up with Rock, letting Rock widen the gap between the two as he whirled around and began to run backwards again. Rock switched his weapon format back to Ground's drills, firing without restraint into Masterframe's cheek. The drills bounced off of Masterframe's bare skull again, only infuriating Masterframe further. Deciding that staying as far away from the bezerk machine as possible, Rock excluded Burn's flamethrower and Chill's ice sword from his list of options as he switched to Hydro's water cannon again, and took aim at Masterframe's face once more.

Suddenly, Masterframe's closest arm to Rock swung and lashed outwards, smacking Rock like a freight train to a frog. Rock was sent shooting along the highway again, landing with a violent crash on a sharp turn of the highway, coming to a skidding halt and nearly falling off the edge. Scrambling back to his feet, his jaw dropped when he saw Masterframe charging at him, showing no sign of stopping any time soon. Rock bolted again, watching Masterframe slowly close in as he stampeded towards him. With nothing but a straight stretch of road ahead of him, Rock put every ounce of strength he had left in him into his legs, feeling the boosters in his knees begin to charge and vibrate within him. And as soon as Masterframe was almost within an arm's reach of the highway, Rock felt the boosters explode with a rush of power, lifting him up into the air and propelling him along the highway. Masterframe's wide body leapt upwards, landing with an Earth-shaking crash upon the highway, demolishing it instantly. The highway shook violently, and a section ahead of Rock abruptly broke free and shot up as his section stooped low, threatening to smack him dead in the forehead. Rock flipped himself around and kicked his legs in front of him, trying to kill the booster's charge before the highway killed him instead of Masterframe. His knees wobbled and trembled, and the boosters shut off as suddenly as they had activated, leaving Rock flying forwards on momentum alone into the broken section ahead. Ducking his head low, Rock managed to snare the edges of the uplifted highway with his hands, stopping himself immediately. Rock pulled himself up and over the broken section, wheezing as he looked over his shoulder to see Masterframe pick himself up again, lock his eyes on Rock again, and come charging once more. Rock breathed heavily. "I can't outrun him forever," he muttered, standing up straight and aiming his arm cannon at Masterframe's face, "You want to kill me, Masterframe?" Rock roared as the metal titan closed in on him again, "Come and try!" As Masterframe raised his arm to throw a clubbing forearm smash upon Rock and the highway, Rock held his ground and shot a torrent of water at Masterframe's exposed skull, ready to bolt out of Masterframe's way.

As soon as Hydro's water blasted upon Masterframe's face, Masterframe gave an agonized roar, the likes of which Rock had never heard before. Masterframe stumbled and collapsed to one knee, causing his arm to fly far over Rock's head and destroy the highway far from Rock's position. Before Masterframe could rise back to both feet, Rock stood on the edge of the highway again, blasting another torrent of water at Masterframe's skull. Masterframe howled as the water leaked underneath his armor, corroding his internal circuitry. Rock kept a constant stream of water blasting upon Masterframe, watching as the giant pushed himself back to his feet, raised both arms, and brought them both down upon Rock. Rock darted away to safety, keeping his aim on Masterframe's face. Double-jumping over the gap in the ruined highway, Rock ran futher down the road until he was at a comfortable distance from Masterframe. Rock then perched himself on the edge of the highway again, and blasted Masterframe's bare face with more water. Screeching wildly as his systems began to go haywire, Masterframe flailed his arms like windmills, demolishing everything in his path as he took blinded swings at anything around him, spinning in circles and stumbling around madly. Holding his breath and steadying his racing heart, Rock closed one eye and lined up his arm cannon with his other eye, carefully aiming another water blast at Masterframe's face. And when Masterframe finally turned to face Rock, Rock locked his aim upon Masterframe's right eye, and fired.

The result was fatal. Masterframe's panic suddenly stopped, and the metallic monster froze up. Those once wild and fiery eyes were now cold and dull, and Masterframe did not even begin to twitch. Suddenly, a fire erupted from Masterframe's left shoulder, and with a brilliant flash of flames, an explosion from Masterframe's body severed the arm completely, leaving it to drop lifelessly to the ground with a booming thud. Hisses, crackles, and small blasts now filled the twilight air, as Masterframe's body began to fall to pieces. "Yes!" Rock cheered, watching the once-mighty Masterframe fall to his feet, "Who's the man now?" Rock pumped his fists into the air, celebrating not because this was the end of Masterframe's reign of terror, but simply because he was still alive. "Can you hear me?" Rock yelled into the sky over the rumble of the collapsing Masterframe, "I'm king of the world! Nothing- and I mean nothing, is ever going to destroy me!"

Masterframe's right elbow exploded on Rock's last words, blowing his right shoulder onto the highway. The highway was suddenly a catapult, and the highway snapped like a twig, launching Rock into the air. The sudden unfortunate turn of events left Rock so surprised that all he could manage to do as he fell from the sky was scream.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Rock tried to double-jump after he hit the peak of his flight. It barely even held him aloft for a millisecond. He plummeted down to the ground, wishing that he still had Auto's starshooter installed. As he gained velocity and plunged downwards at a lethal speed, Rock clamped his eyes shut, and waited for the rocky ground below to split him apart.

Rock kept them shut for longer than he had expected. Something was wrapped around his waist. Something was flying him forwards instead of downwards. Rock opened his eyes and saw the ground below shrinking. Something was pulling him back up. Rock craned his neck around, took a glance at the figure behind him and gasped, "Blues!"

"Good to see you too, Rock," Blues said, tightening his grip on Rock's waist.

The two glided onto an unharmed section of the demolished highway, with Rock quickly breaking free of Blues' grasp and collapsing face-first onto the steel surface. Blues reached behind his back, and flipped off the switch to the metal backpack he carried. "How did you-" Rock stammered, still trying to collect himself, "How did you do that?"

"Antigravity generator," Blues said calmly, holding up the metal box that was once strapped around his shoulders. "One of Auto's inventions. He really wanted you to use this."

"How did you know I was here?" Rock breathed weakly.

"How could we have missed you?" said Blues quickly, looking at the obliterated highway.

Rock let out a long and heavy sigh. "Blues, I'm sorry. I take back what I said abou-"

"Leave it, Rock," said Blues. "I understand." Blues walked towards the edge of the highway, peering over the edge and digging into his trench coat pocket, pulling out a small radio. "Everything's clear Roll. Let's start cleaning up the mess we've made."


	20. Sunrise

The rubble was lifted, and all he saw was the blinding sunlight and a human hand extended towards him, offering to help him back to his feet. The Reploid took Blues' hand, and Blues pulled him up, meeting eye-to-eye. "Thanks," said the Reploid, cradling his damaged shoulder.

"The repair station is over there," said Blues, pointing over the Reploid's shoulder.

Auto, with saudering needle in hand, repaired the circuits inside a Reploid's wrist, while sitting beside him was another Reploid, dabbing a dampened cotton swab at a bruise on a young lady's shoulder. Roll and two much larger Reploids heaved on a sturdy chain, pulling a ruined hovercar out of the pile of rubble that was once the elevated highway. Roll wiped the sweat off of her forehead, and one of the Reploids offered her a hand towel. "Rock, aren't you going to help?" She asked.

Rock still sat silent and motionless on a large concrete block lodged deep into the ground, staring at the wasteland around him. "Nah, I'll let you guys clean up after me."

"Something up, Rock?" Auto asked, sitting down beside Rock.

"You brought me back and gave me a new body to fight a war, right?" Rock asked.

"Yeah? And?"

"Well, now that the war's over, what am I going to do now?"

"You could always settle down and get a job," Roll joked.

"Very funny," Rock chuckled, "But I don't think that the world is ready for the zombie next door yet."

"Well, it'll take awhile," said Auto, "but pretty soon, everything will be back to normal. We can even rebuild the Reploids that were destroyed during the war."

"Really?" Rock asked.

"Sure I can," said Auto, "I'm going to rebuild Alpha as soon as soon as we can find him."

"Even Marie?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Good," said Rock, standing up, "I've made up my mind."

"Made up your mind?" Blues asked from over Rock's shoulder, "About what?"

"Auto, when you rebuild Marie, tell her I said hi, okay?" said Rock.

"Why? Where are you going?" Auto asked.

"I know this is going to sound crazy," said Rock, "but if I want my memory back, I've got to travel around a lot to jar it. But most importantly, there's still someone I want to find."

"Who?" Roll asked, "Dawn?"

"Right."

"Rock, she may not even be alive," said Blues. "And even if she is, who knows where she could be."

"I know," said Rock, "and I really don't care. If she's out there, and if she's still alive, I'll find her."

"That's so sweet," said Roll, rubbing her eye. "Then I hope you find her, Rock."

"So that's it, huh? Just wreck our yard and run away, eh?" Said Auto, nudging Rock playfully in the ribs.

"Basically, yeah," said Rock with a smile, "I'm taking a long vacation, starting now."

As Rock turned to leave, Blues said, "You'll be coming back, I assume?"

"Yeah, maybe," Rock shrugged, "Who knows."

They exchanged their goodbyes, and Rock wandered off, eventually vanishing beyond the horizon…


End file.
